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Traces and relics of the terrible events of the First World War between 1914 and 1918 can be found throughout the area.

16,000 fallen French soldiers are buried here. War is so pointless.

The shelter now serves as a summer roost for a large colony of bats that should not be disturbed by visitors.

The FT3 combat shelter was built in 1906 on the right bank of the Meuse River as part of the Verdun fortress system, designed to house 100 infantry soldiers. During the Battle of Verdun in 1916, it was converted into a command post (PC118) and changed hands multiple times between French and German forces. The shelter was heavily damaged by French artillery when occupied by German troops, particularly on its vulnerable masonry facade facing Verdun, rendering it unusable.

The Douaumont National Necropolis was established in 1923 on 14.4 hectares and officially inaugurated on June 23, 1929, by French President Gaston Doumergue. The cemetery contains 16,142 graves of French soldiers, including a Muslim section with 592 steles and monuments dedicated to soldiers of both Muslim and Jewish faiths.

The Ossuary of Douaumont is an impressive memorial that holds the remains of more than 130,000 unknown French and German soldiers who died during the Battle of Verdun (1916). The bones are visible through small windows in the base – a confronting reminder of the horrors of war. In front of the ossuary is the Nécropole nationale de Douaumont, the largest French military cemetery of the First World War, with 16,142 graves, including a Muslim and Jewish plot. The complex was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.

Since 2006, a monument has stood on the hill of Douaumont in memory of the 30,000 Muslim soldiers who died for France during the First World War. Inaugurated by President Jacques Chirac, it consists of a semicircular gallery with Arab architectural elements. In the middle is a column with the inscription: “À la mémoire des soldats musulmans morts pour la France”. The monument recognizes the diversity of the French army and honors the contribution of soldiers from North Africa and other parts of the then French empire.

This monument depicts a recumbent French soldier and is dedicated to André Thomé, a member of parliament who volunteered for the front and was killed at Verdun on 10 March 1916. Although exempted from service as a politician, he chose to fight. The sculpture, by Alexandre Descatoire, is entitled Le Soldat du Droit – the soldier of the right – and symbolises the sacrifice of just men for a higher ideal.