War Memorial for Air Force, Sri Lanka.
Remembering war Heroes...
At the entrance, the horrors of the war and the destruction was portrayed in an ‘Entrance Pavilion’
battered on the outside with missiles and gunfire but serene and white inside.
The visitor will be led through a long walk of contemplation, sadness and remembrance
along a linear water body, a substantial length of time carefully orchestrated to arrive at
Two earth mounds, both manmade, depict the two worlds; our world and the ‘other world’; the world after life.
The first mound (Life) is where the kith and Kin will assemble and congregate, until the final call of the bugle drifts into silence.
The second earth mound is also symbolical of the burial place, the final resting place
Is only accessed via a narrow bridge and is the holy ground upon which
Departed are laid to rest.
The White ‘Tomb’ stand atop the second earth mound and is venerated with flowers
And candles before one enter on a pedestal.
Inside the Tomb, one is carried down through a helical spiral gradually to the innards
with the pictures of each fallen comrade
none can escape the writings on the mirror wall without tears
steps back up and an escape route that borders on the peripheries of the landscape
brings one to reality and to gratitude and a deeply loved respect for the fallen heroes.
we remember your innocence and
your lovely face that will never grow old
You will live forever
young and smiling
It is we,
who will grow old and wither