Its silhouette instantly recognisable from afar, this 45m-high memorial to the missing of the Somme, 7.5km northeast of Albert, is inscribed with the names of more than 72,000 British and South African soldiers whose remains were never recovered or identified. Designed by Edwin Lutyens, it was built from 1928 to 1932 on the site of a German stronghold that was stormed on 1 July 1916, the bloody first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The museum, run by Péronne's outstanding Historial de la Grande Guerre, opened in 2016; displays include uniforms and large installations such as a replica of French fighter ace Georges Guynemer's aeroplane. The visitor centre's bookshop has an excellent selection of English books on WWI.
Its adjacent joint French and Commonwealth cemetery expresses Franco-British fraternity in death as in life.
