Following the state treaty of June 2, 1936, which regulated the requests for burial of their fallen on a reciprocal basis, the Volksbund built the military cemetery in Quero over three years. It was officially inaugurated on May 25, 1939. The monument was built from '36 to '39 entirely with porphyry blocks sourced from the Rolle Pass. The project was designed by architect R. Tischler, in collaboration with the Bundesbauleitung of Munich. From the caretaker's house, a path leads on foot through the orchard to the hill, where one climbs grassy slopes to the entrance of the mausoleum.
In the military cemetery of Quero rest 3,465 fallen soldiers from the German and Austro-Hungarian armies of World War I, 229 soldiers belonging to the German Alpine Corps, and 3,232 Austro-Hungarian soldiers. The outer part of the cemetery reflects the hilly landscape cultivated with orchards. A tower, which can be accessed by narrow steps, houses a hall of honor for the fallen. A double wall connects the tower to the bastion with a gentle curve, creating a walkway. On the other side, the tower and the bastion join in a straight wall, which, together with the inner wall of the walkway and the base of the tower, surrounds the mass grave where the fallen rest.
Upon entering the hall of honor, the walls are covered in tuff from Carnia, and the floor consists of porphyry slabs (in the Hall of Honor, they are red marble) 40 cm long, laid vertically. At the end of the vestibule stands the Austrian Black Cross, the emblem of the Honored Dead of Austria. In the middle of the vestibule, three doors lead to the central point of the cemetery. Before the visitor stands the altar, a single block of Swedish black granite, on which the books containing the names of the 865 known fallen and the places from which their bodies come are placed. The Hall of Honor is lit by a single circular opening in the vault: the space is deliberately left in shadow so that those entering must pause before being able to catch all the details. Beyond the wall opposite the entrance, at the level of the visitors' gaze, are the remains of the 3,461 fallen, buried in the same place without distinction. In fact, this is how the words of the 12 soldiers depicted in the mosaics on the walls are remembered: "We stood together in the lined ranks, we stood together in life. Therefore, equal cross and equal honor were given to us at the grave. Now we rest from the fiery struggle and consoled, we await eternity."
Text of the Association Montegrappa.org
