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High on the east bank of the River Foyle, literally at ‘the Top of the Hill’ at the highest elevation in the city limits of Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland, a temple stood briefly. At 72 feet high, it towered over its surroundings, a thin spire mirroring the city’s cathedral steeples on the river’s opposite bank. The sign at its entrance instructed ‘Leave a memory behind, let go of the past and look to the future.’ Memories relinquished would not remain – at least not in their material forms. ‘Temple’ was made to be ephemeral, built to be consumed in flames on …

The question of how to ‘deal’ with the past in post‐conflict Northern Ireland preoccupies public conversation precisely because it separates a violent history from a fragile peace and an uncertain future. After a brief examination of contemporary Northern Ireland's culture of remembrance, this article provides some analysis of the potentials and dangers of efforts to confront the legacies of the Troubles. I argue here that the challenge for post‐conflict heritage work in Northern Ireland lies in forging practices that permit and facilitate different ways of encountering complex and contradictory histories. These new efforts to remember encourage citizens to incorporate disparate, …