Ploegsteert Memorial in Comines-Warneton became on Thursday the first First World War site to receive a UNESCO World Heritage commemorative plaque, at a ceremony attended by ambassadors, local officials and school pupils.
The memorial, together with seven nearby cemeteries, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023 as part of a wider group of World War I funerary and memorial sites.
A total of 139 such sites were granted World Heritage status three years ago after a process that began in 2016 and included an initial rejection. The successful second bid was submitted jointly by France, Wallonia and Flanders.
The sites include 96 in France, 27 in Flanders and 16 in Wallonia, eight of them in Comines-Warneton. The Walloon municipality was the first to unveil the new UNESCO plaques.
Speaking at the ceremony, Yves Rouyet, president of the Belgian Commission for UNESCO, said the recognition showed the power of heritage to bring people together. He noted that some of the children present may themselves have experienced displacement caused by war.
The First World War left more than two million graves on the Western Front alone, in addition to hundreds of thousands of soldiers whose bodies were never identified. In Comines-Warneton, those commemorated include British, New Zealand, Australian, South African, Canadian and German soldiers.
Local authorities said the scale and number of the sites reflected the unprecedented destructive force of the 1914-1918 war.
The designation is also expected to have tourism and economic benefits.
Comines-Warneton Mayor Alice Leeuwerck said the 2014-2018 centenary years had been important for remembrance tourism.
She expressed hope that the UNESCO recognition would give fresh momentum to the sector.
The ceremony, which was open to all residents of the municipality, ended with the Last Post at the memorial.
The monument commemorates 11,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave and closely resembles the Menin Gate in Ypres.
Six more unveiling ceremonies are planned in Belgium. The next will take place on 6 October at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, followed by events in Heuvelland, Ypres, Nieuwpoort, Poperinge and Mons.
