London Bali bombing memorial - London - Places of Interest

I went and had a look yesterday at the British memorial to the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings that was unveiled by Prince Charles a couple of days before.

The attack in Kuta in 2002 killed 202 including 28 Britons and the UK Bali Bombing Victims Group applied for permission to erect the memorial in 2005 and the British Foreign Office contributed £100,000 to the £300,000 cost of the project. The memorial is located just below the Clive Steps at the rear of the Foreign Office, opposite St James Park and a couple of hundred yards up from Horse Guards Parade. The UKBBVG says it hopes it will provide a focus for relatives of the dead and survivors from across Europe.

The memorial is a 5ft(1.5m) marble globe, to represent that people from 21 countries were killed, and has 202 doves carved into it. The names of all 202 are on a curved stone wall behind the globe. Its the work of artist Garry Breeze and sculptor Martin Cook and is really simple and effective. The area its in is a fairly quiet stretch of road on a weekend, its next to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum so may get a lot of tourist traffic at peak times but relatives should be able to come and have some time to themselves at certain points.


When I visited there were still many flowers and personal items left from the dedication ceremony a few days before. If you’re around St James Park or at Horse Guards Parade its worth a few minutes to walk to and take a look at.