Paris-based architecture office Blaising Borchardt Studio has created a monument for Holocaust remembrance, using interwoven steels in Lyon, France. 

The Rails of Memory is a memorial that speaks to history and the soul currently stands in the center of Lyon, a little distance from Perrache station, the place where the deportation convoys formerly started their gloomy departure. 

The poignant and potent architectural piece "The Rails of Memory" is much more than just a straightforward monument. 

In addition to serving as a connection between the past and the future, it is a location where the memory of the Shoah victims is brought to life and preserved for all time.

The "Association pour l'édification d'un Mémorial de la Shoah à Lyon," which included former deportees and Auschwitz survivors among its active and honorary members, led the effort for twenty years. Architects Quentin Blaising and Alicia Borchardt came up with the idea for the project. 

The project was chosen from 96 submissions from 25 nations in an international competition in 2023. With 1,173 meters of interwoven steel rails telling a sorrowful story about the 1,173 kilometers separating Lyon from the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, the result is a monument of startling force.

In "The Rails of Memory," every element is intended to convey the unspeakable. The railroad's ballast, wooden sleepers, and rails are employed to represent the tragedy of deportation with unadulterated power. 

Visitors are encouraged to feel, touch, and remember as a result of these tactile connections to historical events, which are made possible by both real and symbolic aspects. 

The six million Jews who perished in the Shoah, 6,100 of whom were expelled from the Rhône-Alpes region, are not the only victims honored by this memorial. 

It is also meant to serve as a teaching tool for generations to come. Visitors can instantly obtain information about the association and its mission by scanning QR codes on benches.

In this sense, "The Rails of Memory" represents a promise—the pledge to never forget—rather than merely reciting the past. It turns into a crucial site of shared memory, a location where history is brought to life and where the rails' quiet speaks louder than words.

Every project at Blaising Borchardt Studio, an architecture and design firm, is the result of a special conversation between people, place, and memory. In order to discover the hidden possibilities of every location, their work is based on a thorough contextual investigation and creative material exploration.

Project facts

Project name: The Rails of Memory

Location: Place Carnot, Lyon, France

Inauguration: January 26, 2025

Category: Cultural facility, artwork

Client: Association pour l’édification d’un Mémorial de la Shoah à Lyon  

Architect & Lead Designer: Blaising Borchardt Studio (BBS)

Engineer: T/E/S/S 

Lighting Designer: Les Éclairagistes Associés (LEA)

Landscape Architect: Atelier NDF

General Contractor: UOTNI

Dimensions: Length: 14 m, Width: 5 m, Height: 3.44 m

Materials: Reclaimed railway tracks (donated by SNCF), ballast and railway ties

All images © François Baudry.

All Drawings & Images © Blaising Borchardt Studio.

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Blaising Borchardt Studio Lyon monument