History, Art and Architecture Parliamentary buildings Present Room of Remembrance

Room of Remembrance

During the rehabilitation of the Parliament Building, Canada’s eight Books of Remembrance, which record the names of every Canadian who died in service to our country, have been moved to the purpose-built Room of Remembrance within West Block.

Sombre Atmosphere

Like the Memorial Chamber, the Room of Remembrance has a sombre atmosphere and sobering quietude, though it is much different in architecture and design.

Photo gallery for Sombre Atmosphere photo 3

Photo gallery for Sombre Atmosphere photo 4

Entrance

Visitors enter through an iron gate decorated with a vertical pattern of neo-Gothic arches. The books rest on their altars spaced around the wall of the circular room. A low ceiling adds to the intimacy of the space. Overlapping circles are etched into the soft-white surface of the ceiling, and flecked with bits of light, like a vast, star-studded sky.

11 a.m.

At 11 a.m. each day, beneath the ceiling of stars, a single page in each book is turned, to display more names of those who gave their lives for our country.

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