Having travelled Britain a fair bit and with an interest in both world wars, this has to be the raunchiest memorial to the heroes lost I’ve seen. It is unexpectedly sensual but when has Wales conformed within the realms of tradition?
View of Aberystwyth War Memorial through an arched window of
the remains of the Norman Castle
Embedded in the grounds of what was once a Norman castle—its remains available to wander around—this buxom naked beauty in bronze has ample thigh and full pert breasts. She emerges from a thicket, facing the sea front at Aberystwyth and endures every westerly gale. She is the lower ornament of the memorial.
Rising from her octagonal plinth is a tapered shaft of stone and topping this is a pretty angel adorning a billowing dress and elegant wings who is appearing to throw a laurel wreath onto the head of her companion below.
The angel is the Winged Victory and the nude below her Humanity emerging from the Horrors of War. The memorial is the work of Italian sculptor Mario Rutelli, and was erected fairly long after the close of war, in 1923. The names of both WWI and WWII dead appear on the tablets below.
Lest We Forget.By Donna Siggers
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