Ostel: Reconstruction and Memorial Sites

Ostel can be understood through three themes: reconstruction after the First World War, its memorial sites, and a hike that includes the village. The layout of the village offers an initial point of orientation: Ostel is arranged along a single main street, with detached houses. The parish church is in the village center, while the present-day cemetery is at the entrance to the village from the direction of Braye-en-Laonnois. The Aviator Memorial stands outside the village, on the road to Vailly-sur-Aisne. This makes it possible to distinguish the church, cemetery, and memorial by their locations before considering their respective historical associations.

Reconstruction after the First World War

Ostel was completely destroyed in 1917 during the First World War and rebuilt in the same location from 1922 onward. The municipal buildings are also part of this history: together, they form an ensemble that bears witness to the reconstruction efforts. The village’s layout itself is therefore part of its historical character, alongside its individual memorial sites.

The parish church of Saint-Glorieux et Saint-Blaise was rebuilt in the village center after its destruction in the First World War and completed at the end of 1931. It has an elongated floor plan, no transept, and a nave divided into two bays. A bay is a section of the architectural layout; “divided into two bays” describes the division of the nave, while “elongated” describes the overall shape of the building. General reconstruction began in 1922, while the church was completed at the end of 1931—two distinct dates in the history of reconstruction.

Cemetery and Memorials

The cemetery contains the graves of 19 French soldiers who fell in the First World War, as well as numerous 19th-century family vaults. It thus brings together military remembrance and older family burial sites in one place. Ostel’s war memorial is an obelisk made of gray granite; it was inaugurated on September 30, 1924.

The Aviator Memorial was erected in 1921 in honor of Marcel Vernes, an observer, and Jean Peinaud, a pilot with the 7th Squadron. Both were killed over Ostel on March 24, 1917, and the memorial commemorates them. Its rectangular stele is made of masonry with dressed rubble stone and a cut-stone slab decorated with a martyr’s palm. The two memorials thus differ in material and form: gray granite for the obelisk, and masonry and cut stone for the stele.

Ostel on the Les Roches de l'Abondin Hike

The Les Roches de l'Abondin hike starts in Vailly-sur-Aisne, passes through Ostel, and returns to Vailly-sur-Aisne. It is 10 km long and takes about three hours. The Aviator Memorial is one of the route’s landmarks. Check the route before setting out on your hike. For planning your time, allow for the entire route: the approximately three hours refers to the journey from Vailly through Ostel and back, not just the section through Ostel. This places the memorial site in Ostel in the context of a longer hike.

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