Marselisborgmonumentet

Marselisborgmonumentet, som arkitekt Aksel Ekeberg og billedhugger Axel Poulsen står bag, består af en flisebelagt gård omkranset af en cirkelformet mur udført i kalksten.

I muren, der kun har én indgang, er der i alfabetisk orden indhugget navnene på 4.140 danskere, der faldt i 1. Verdenskrig; både sønderjyder i tysk krigstjeneste og de danske frivillige på allieret side.

I en mindetavle er der indhugget et digt til ære for de faldne, og indimellem de mange navne er der udført fire store relieffer, som symboliserer

• Udmarchen
• Krigen
• Freden og
• Hjemkomsten

Ligesom ved anlæggelsen af Mindeparken kom finansieringen til monumentet gennem landsdækkende private indsamlinger, og indvielsen af monumentet blev en stor folkelig begivenhed.

De fleste faldne danskere under 1. Verdenskrig var dansksindede sønderjyder under tysk værnepligt. Derfor var mange sønderjyder blevet specielt indbudt til monumentets indvielse i 1934. Det var blot 20 år siden, den store krig brød ud, og indvielsen blev for de mange fremmødte pårørende en følelsesladet affære. Mange havde endnu ikke haft et sted at mindes deres kære, som enten var begravet i store massegrave udenlands eller aldrig blevet fundet.

I forbindelse med Kulturhovedstadsåret i 2017 blev lydværket 4140 Voices skrevet specielt til monumentet. Værket bestod af optagelser af 4.140 mennesker, som fremsiger soldaternes navne.

Læs mere om værket her.

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Marselisborgmonumentet (The Marselisborg Monument), designed by architect Aksel Ekeberg and sculptor Axel Poulsen, consists of a tiled courtyard surrounded by a circular limestone wall.
The wall, which has only one entrance, is inscribed with the names of 4,140 Danes who fell in World War I – both Southern Jutlanders who served in the German army and Danish volunteers who fought on the Allied side.

A commemorative plaque bears a poem in honour of the fallen, and among the many names, four large reliefs depict:

• The Departure
• The War
• The Peace
• The Homecoming

As with the creation of the Memorial Park, the funding for the monument came from nationwide private donations, and the inauguration of the monument became a major public event.

Most Danes who died in World War I were Danish-minded Southern Jutlanders conscripted into German military service. For that reason, many Southern Jutlanders were specially invited to the monument’s inauguration in 1934. The war had broken out just 20 years earlier, and the inauguration was a deeply emotional occasion for the many relatives in attendance. Many of them had never had a place to mourn their loved ones, who were either buried in large mass graves abroad or never found.

In connection with the European Capital of Culture year in 2017, the sound work 4140 Voices was created especially for the monument. The piece consists of recordings of 4,140 people each reciting the name of a fallen soldier.