French Cemetery

In the Crimean War of 1854-1856 – the three-year Turkish-Russian war – the French fought alongside the Turks. In 1934 a cemetery was built in Gallipoli (Gelibolu) in memory of the 5,000 French soldiers who died in the war. The cemetery stands on Muhittin Reis Street, opposite Hamzakoy, on a walled site with a tall tower at its centre. Its grounds contain tiered marble graves, most of which belong to generals and high-ranking officers, either French or from other nations that took part in the war. In the lower part of the cemetery there is a small building that holds the collective remains of the five thousand French soldiers who died in the war.