Contested Memories in Stone: The Memorial Landscape of Waterloo Battlefield

ABSTRACT This article examines the commemorative landscape of the Waterloo battlefield as a spatially and narratively contested site. Based on GIS mapping and inscription analysis, it investigates how different national and transnational entities have marked the site with monuments that project competing historical narratives. While Allied and cosmopolitan memorials occupy central and visible locations, French monuments are often confined to peripheral spaces. Yet their presence challenges the dominant narrative through spatial proximity and rhetorical interventions. Special attention is paid to grassroots French memorials, which do not oppose the French state narrative but rather target the victor's version of history, often adopting official commemorative forms to reclaim commemorative presence. This case adds to the literature on dissonant heritage by highlighting the role of spatial arrangement and non‐state actors in shaping contested memory. The article ends by calling for visitor‐focused research to assess how these commemorative messages are received or reinterpreted on site.