ABSTRACT
Compared to elsewhere in the Anglophone world, the commemoration of the centennial of the First World War’s end was remarkably muted in the US, where the conflict remains largely forgotten. This chapter considers the ‘interfaith worship service’ at the National Cathedral in Washington DC on 11 November 2018, examining the combination of the symbolic, architectural, sensory and spatial aspects of the service. It argues that the interplay between the venue’s history and the current political situation, as well as the atmospheric and emergent aspects of the ceremony, converged to create unprecedented feelings of solidarity and revive forgotten interpretations of national purpose.
