The Cenotaph, completed in 1920 by Edwin Lutyens and fashioned from Portland stone, is Britain’s most important memorial to the men and women of Britain and the Commonwealth killed during the two world wars. The Queen and other public figures lay poppies at its base on Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November.
The word 'cenotaph' derives from the Greek words kenos ('empty') and taphos ('tomb').