Cenotaph at Memorial Park almost back to natural state

With an aim to restore beauty back to Port of Spain, restoration work is almost completed on the cenotaph at Memorial Park.

Speaking to the media today at the park on Frederick Street, PoS Mayor Joel Martinez said the cenotaph was donated to the Commonwealth of TT approximately 100 years ago at the end of World War One to commemorate the country's soldiers who had fallen in that era.

The cenotaph, together with 21 others, was donated to all the Commonwealth countries who participated in World War One.

Martinez said it was a gift from England which was erected in 1924, and what was not realised is that the Portland stone was not to be painted but to be left in its natural state as it is done in all other Commonwealth countries which include India, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Belfast, Zambia, Bermuda and Barbados, to name a few.

“It was being painted every year until one day it was brought to my attention that the covering you saw on the statues which was black was really hiding the bronzing of the statue and the walls of the cenotaph were of yellow Portland stone and the floor is of granite.

“When you look at cenotaphs around the world they are all made of this prehistoric materialswhich can stand up for hundreds of thousands of years thereafter.”

Martinez said over the years the beauty of the cenotaph was hidden by paint.