page_title: Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice
section_title: Location and design
hierarchical_section_title: Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice / Location and design
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of Reginald Blomfield, scanned from Notable Londoners, An Illustrated Who's Who of Professional and Business Men, 1922, London Publishing Agency. Public domain.
context_page_description: The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice is a war memorial in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located west of North Front Cemetery, at the junction of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road. The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1917, and his monument is found in numerous Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries. The cross in Gibraltar was erected by the Royal Engineers for the commission, and unveiled on Armistice Day 1922. The British Pathé film recorded at the dedication ceremony that day represents the first motion picture made in Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice served as the focus of Remembrance Sunday ceremonies in Gibraltar until 2009, at which time the location was changed to the Gibraltar War Memorial.
context_section_description: The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice is a monument in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. The memorial was originally located within North Front Cemetery. Rebuilt and relocated after World War II, it is currently positioned, along with the Gibraltar Memorial, in northern Gibraltar, in a fenced area west of the North Front Cemetery. The monuments are at the northeast corner of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road, adjacent to the sundial roundabout. Both of the war memorials are connected by paths to a central inscribed panel.
  The Imperial War Graves Commission (later the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) was established during the First World War to discover, identify, and inter with military honours the remains of British Empire military personnel who died during war.
  During the First World War, prominent architects were requested by the then Imperial War Graves Commission to submit designs for monuments to be erected in numerous cemeteries. The Cross of Sacrifice, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1917, was chosen by the commission. The selection of Blomfield's design was made in part "to emphasize the military character of the cemetery." The monument is found in Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries with fifty or more interments. The cross is usually sculpted in granite, sandstone, or limestone. A bronze sword, described by Rudyard Kipling as "a stark sword brooding on the bosom of the cross," is mounted on the front of the monument, directed downward; together with a crosspiece, it forms another cross. A tall monument, the Cross of Sacrifice measures from 4.5 to 9 metres (15 to 30 ft) in height, and usually is positioned on an octagonal base.
caption: Sir Reginald Blomfield
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