Australian War Memorial, Hyde Park Corner, London, Guide du visiteur et quoi faire à proximité

The Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London honours the Australians who served and died in the First and Second World Wars. It is a curved wall of green-grey granite, inscribed with thousands of Australian place names and the names of battles, standing in the open air near Wellington Arch. It is quick to visit and rewards a slow look.

The story behind it

The memorial was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 and designed by the Australian architect Peter Tonkin. It was built to thank London's Australian visitors and residents of the past and to remember those who never came home. The granite was brought over from Australia, and the wall is not a conventional statue or column but a quiet, sloping surface.

Its most striking feature is the lettering. The names of 23,844 Australian towns and localities are cut in small letters, a reminder that the people who fought came from ordinary places all over the country. Over these, the names of battles appear in much larger type, so the places of home and the places of war share the same stone. Water is designed to move across the wall, which gives the monument a soft sound in the middle of a busy traffic junction.

What to look for

• The tiny town names covering the granite are worth stepping close to, because you can pick out small Australian places among the many.
• The larger battle names laid over the town names show how the memorial links home with the front line.
• The sloping, curved shape of the wall, and the way water moves across its surface, set it apart from the more traditional monuments nearby.
• Wellington Arch stands close behind, and the contrast between its classical stonework and the modern wall is part of the scene.

Tips for your visit

• Allow about 10 to 15 minutes for the memorial itself, longer if you want to read the names closely.
• It is an outdoor monument that you can see from the pavement, so there is no need to go inside anything.
• Early morning or late afternoon tends to be calmer, and softer light shows the lettering better.
• Hyde Park, Green Park and Apsley House are all within walking distance, and several other war memorials stand around Hyde Park Corner.

See it on a quest

You can reach the memorial on foot as one stop of Scandal & Glamour: The Mayfair Scoop, a self-guided walk through the surrounding streets. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle based on what is in front of you, so you look closely instead of just walking past. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.