Verdun
The Battlefield of Verdun
In 1916, French and German forces fought one of the longest and costliest battles of the First World War around the fortified town of Verdun.
From the source
Verdun (Frankrijk), toneel van de Slag om Verdun, van 21 februari tot 18 december 1916 — een van de langste en bloedigste veldslagen van de Eerste Wereldoorlog.
Editorial reading
The battlefield lies in the Meuse department, Grand Est, France. In 2023, UNESCO inscribed 'Funerary and Memory Sites of the First World War (Western Front)' as a serial, transnational World Heritage listing (reference 1567) of 139 sites; twelve of these lie in the Meuse, including the Necropole nationale du Faubourg Pave a Verdun (5,722 burials), the Ossuaire de Douaumont, the Fort de Douaumont, and the Tranchee des baionnettes. This UNESCO listing covers the memorial and burial sites specifically, not the wider battlefield landscape as a whole. Separately, the Monument a la Victoire et aux Soldats de Verdun holds its own Monument Historique classification (reference PA00106685), granted in 1989.
Recommendation
A landscape of remembrance built around one of the deadliest battles of the First World War, now anchored by a 2023 UNESCO World Heritage listing of its memorial and burial sites.