A sea of crimson poppies has sprung up in a 16 acre barren dry moat surrounding the Tower of London. Starting on July 17, a total of 888, 246 hand crafted ceramic poppies, each one representing a British military death in WWI,  have been individually placed in the moat with the final one being placed today, November 11, culminating with a ceremony and a two minute silence to honor the dead.
The art installation is called “Blood Swept Lands And Seas of Red” and is literally a sea of blood-red tide of poppies. Each poppy represents an individual who did not grow old.
An army of volunteers will dismantle the exhibit, checking, cleaning and packing each poppy to be shipped to new owners. Each poppy was sold for 25 pounds or about $40 to benefit the six armed forces charities. More than five million visitors trekked to the Tower of London to view this incredible art installation. Photos courtesy of Amy Sparwasser.
This 3 minute Youtube video shows the scope of the installation:
We will remember them and what an amazing monument that will keep on giving once the poppies are sold.
Yes, lots of people wanted them to stay because of their beauty.
It is a truly amazing sight that really captured the hearts of many, many people. It’s great that the poppies are now being sold to raise money for armed forces charities.
Thanks Gillian. My sister went to London to see these and raved about it.
I saw this on a news program recently–what wonderful tribute! I can only imagine how moving it must be to see this in person. As one person interviewed on the program said, seeing all of these poppies together really makes one understand just how many lives were sacrificed. And these represent just British losses–imagine how many more were lost in this war.
I tried hard not to weep while seeing the video. It is so very moving and well done. Moving the poppies along is what life is like. Fluid and moving. I wish there were no wars but doubt anyone will ever see that happen.
I am glad that it moved you. Finding out that people still do care about war dead from a distant war, literally 100 years ago, really resonated with me.