Un faro su una commemorazione ‘sospesa’: il Memoriale interalleato a Cointe, Liegi

The architect Franciscus Josephus Smolderen (Antwerp 1889-1973) is the author of the Inter-allied Memorial built on the hill of Cointe (Liege) since 1928. The complex was born as synthesis of a Civil Monument to commemorate the dead in the First World War and a large regional church, centre of pilgrimage consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A system of‘church-square’ and monuments that bind a high civic tower to a circular church. A complex of reinforced concrete constructions synthesis of an interesting constructive experimentation and a figurative choice between eclectic monumentalism and structural grid. On this comparison is directed the analysis of the Memorial, whose essence is inseparable from the majestic panorama, once marked by the dark pyramids of the coal mines of the Liège basin. Today, this “symbol of encouragement of a lasting and ennobling peace" has to find a new future that respects the historical, figurative and landscape quality of its architecture and the symbolic value that the whole complex represents.