PHOTOS: Red Poppies Pour Out Of The Tower Of London

A sea of red poppies pour out of the Tower of London with the surrounding land covered in a blanket of symbolic blood.

Created by artist Paul Cummins with setting by stage designer Tom Piper, the installation entitled “Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red” visually commemorates the British and Commonwealth soldiers killed during the First World War (2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of the event).

There are 120,000 ceramic poppies in place and more will be progressively added to fill the Tower’s famous moat until 888,246 in total–each representing a solder that was killed. Prince William, Prince Harry, and Duchess Catherine walked through the installation today with each planting a poppy in honour.

The installation will continue through November 11–Armistice Day when the war ended in 1918.

The ceramic flowers can be purchased for £25 on the Historic Royal Palaces website with the profits going to six charities (COBSEO, Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help for Heroes, Royal British Legion and SSAFA).

Poppies became a symbol of war after they sprung from the battlefields of Belgium where hundreds of thousands of soldiers died during World War I. Canadian doctor, John McCrae, ran a field hospital during this time and penned the poem “In Flanders Fields” that opens with the famous line, “In Flanders fields, the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row.”

Crawford Butler (C), the longest serving Yeoman Warden at the Tower of London, poses with the first ceramic poppy to be ‘planted’ in the dry moat at Tower of London.

Crawford Butler poses with the first ceramic poppy to be ‘planted’ in the dry moat at Tower of London.

Crawford Butler poses with the first ceramic poppy to be ‘planted’ at the Tower of London. The poppy is the first of 888,246 created by artist Paul Cummins.

Yeoman Serjeant Bob Loughlin admires a section of an installation entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ by artist Paul Cummins.

The installation entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ by artist Paul Cummins.

Volunteers continue to assemble an installation entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.’ After Armistice Day each poppy from the installation will be available to buy.

The installation, ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ is seen in the moat of the Tower of London.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry visit Tower Of London’s Ceramic Poppy Field on August 5, 2014 in London, England.

 

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry walk through the installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.’