Builders ‘hijack’ war memorial with restaurant plan
It’s like turning the Menin Gate into a supermarket, say campaigners as they fight ‘tasteless’ conversion
A BELGIAN church built as a First World War memorial with financial support from British veterans and widows faces being turned into a restaurant and climbing wall venue.
The plans for the 1930s Basilique de Cointe in Liège have been described as “tasteless” and an “insult” to veterans, with residents calling for protests to stop the conversion work.
Field Marshal Earl Haig, Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty and the British Legion all backed a campaign to erect a memorial church dedicated to the six million Allied war dead, with UK veterans helping dig the foundations in 1928.
Built by modernist architect Jos Smolderen, the Mémorial Interallié encompasses the church of SacréCoeur and a 246ft (75m) tower.
It cost the equivalent of more than £25million today, with funding raised by the Allied nations. The British contribution would have been well over £1million in today’s terms, according to Dr Bernard Wilkin, a historian.
The memorial was inaugurated in 1937 and has continued to maintain its links with the UK. In 2014, the now Prince and Princess of Wales took part in a commemoration there to mark the centenary of the start of the war.
Now a proposal has been lodged with the Liège planning authority to extend the church roof and build an haute-cuisine panoramic restaurant.
The scheme also envisages a climbing wall – the highest in Europe – and talks are ongoing about turning the tower into a climbing museum.
“This is a completely tasteless idea,” said Dr Wilkin.
“They want to hijack the memorial. It’s like turning the Menin Gate at Ypres into a supermarket. This is no place for a fancy restaurant.”
Bouli Lanners, a actor and director who lives next to the memorial, is supporting the protests against the “Basilique Experience” project.
“It’s shameful. We mustn’t sell off our history. The duty of memory must be respected,” he commented.
The plan is also drawing criticism from British veterans. Zoe White MBE, chair of the Brussels branch of the Royal British Legion, said: “The memorial is a symbol of remembrance for the sacrifices made during the war. Converting it into a leisure facility shows no respect.”
Groupe Gehlen, a Malmedy-based construction firm, is behind the proposals. Marie Boutet, its spokesman, said the city of Liège had asked it not to comment, and referred to a press release stating the choir in the church will be preserved as a memorial space. “The objective … respects the history of the site and its architectural characteristics,” the company claims.
Dr Wilkin said campaigners are not reassured. “There is no proper remembrance aspect. This amounts to pretending to keep the memorial.
“Unfortunately, we don’t learn enough about the First World War any more and that’s why things like this happen,” he added.