Many World War I battlefield tours in northern France include a stop at Notre Dame de Lorette (officially Nécropole Nationale Française de Notre-Dame de Lorette), which marks a strategically important area that was bitterly contested in the three long and bloody battles of Artois between the French and German armies. Set at the top of the Notre Dame de Lorette hill, the cemetery is home to 20,000 marked graves and remains of 22,000 unknown soldiers; as well as a basilica, lantern tower, museum, east-facing Muslim cemetery, and several ossuaries. Visit as part of an itinerary that also stops at significant WWI-related sites like Vimy Ridge, Neuville-Saint-Vaast, and The Ring of Remembrance.
Notre Dame de Lorette is located in Northern France, 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of Paris and 31 miles (50 kilometers) outside Lille. There is ample free parking for cars at the cemetery site, or visit as part of a WWI battlefields tour to avoid the stress of driving.
The cemetery is open to the public daily, though this open-air site is best visited on a clear, mild day. There are often special commemorative ceremonies on French national holidays related to WWI, so check the cemetery website for schedules and details.
After the end of WWI, the French government chose the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette hill to become the final resting place for the remains of French soldiers from over 150 cemeteries on the fronts of Artois, Flanders, Yser, and the Belgian coast. To mark the 100th anniversary of WWI, President François Hollande unveiled a memorial named “The Ring of Remembrance” at the cemetery on Nov. 11, 2014. The circular, 300-ton monument is marked with the names of the 600,000 soldiers who were killed in action between 1914 and 1918 in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
