I have used this in the past, but mainly for texts relating to places where something historical has happened and is commemorated in some way.

We often talk of gardens of remembrance, etc.

I don't know if that is the case for your text, the fact that it mentions "mouvementé" suggests this might be the case.

It is a possibility anyway.

Numerous locations are of historical signifcance, due to the town's (?) rich and often turbulent past.

Would this work? It is used for the Berlin Wall...
I thought of "places of pilgrimage" as well but I'm guessing you will veto that suggestion as it is too religious sounding...

www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/201/articles/89NoraLieuxIntroRepresentations.pdf

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http://www.port.ac.uk/research/africanoralhistory/memoire/

'Our interest in lieux de memoire where memory crystallizes and secretes itself has occurred at a particular historical moment, a turning point where consciousness of a break with the past is bound up with the sense that memory has been torn-but torn in such a way as to pose the problem of the embodiment of memory in certain sites where a sense of historical continuity persists. There are lieux de memoire, sites of memory, because there are no longer milieux de memoire, real environments of memory.'
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/39552983/Between-History-and-Memor...

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'Sites of Memory
Pierre Nora edited a monumental work of seven volumes about the loci memoriae of France, entitled "Les lieux de mémoire" (1984–92). What are such sites, or realms, of memory?
"A lieu de mémoire is any significant entity, whether material or non-material in nature, which by dint of human will or the work of time has become a symbolic element of the memorial heritage of any community (in this case, the French community)" (Nora 1996: XVII)
In other words, sites of memory are "where [cultural] memory crystallizes and secretes itself" (Nora 1989: 7). These include:
> places such as archives, museums, cathedrals, palaces, cemeteries, and memorials;
> concepts and practices such as commemorations, generations, mottos, and all rituals;
> objects such as inherited property, commemorative monuments, manuals, emblems, basic texts, and symbols.'
(https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/holtorf/2.6.html)

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'The concept of sites of memory
It is normally said that you have to be fixed in space and in time if you want to belong somewhere. The sites of memory are, in the proper sense of the word, crucial. They are crossroads. They are the points where space and time meet memory. Piere Nora has tried to define a difference between milieu de mémoire and lieu de mémoire. The sites of memory are the "milieux", the real environments of memory, but today, with our lack of memory, we have to be content with lieux de mémoire, places which remind us of the past, of a (broken) memory. (cf. Morley, p. 87)'
(http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_08/section_2/artc5B.html)

realms of memory npl.
lieux de mémoire
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-french/realms of memor...

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Sites of Memory

Pierre Nora edited a monumental work of seven volumes about the loci memoriae of France, entitled "Les lieux de mémoire" (1984–92). What are such sites, or realms, of memory?

"A lieu de mémoire is any significant entity, whether material or non-material in nature, which by dint of human will or the work of time has become a symbolic element of the memorial heritage of any community (in this case, the French community)" (Nora 1996: XVII)
In other words, sites of memory are "where [cultural] memory crystallizes and secretes itself" (Nora 1989: 7). These include:
places such as archives, museums, cathedrals, palaces, cemeteries, and memorials;
concepts and practices such as commemorations, generations, mottos, and all rituals;
objects such as inherited property, commemorative monuments (see image right), manuals, emblems, basic texts, and symbols.

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Note added at 36 mins (2011-05-17 17:01:05 GMT)
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looks like the same text , OUPS ,

I'll post another one , many hits on G

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The impact in France of Lieux de mémoire, the magisterial seven-volume collaborative project led by Pierre Nora, was consecrated in 1993 when the phrase "site of memory" entered the Grand dictionnaire Robert de la langue française. The publication of a three-volume English-language edition under the title Realms of Memory makes accessible to American readers 46 of the original 132 articles that were published in Lieux de mémoire between 1981 and 1992.1 They have been superbly translated by Arthur Goldhammer and come with a useful foreword by Lawrence Kritzman and a new preface by Nora.

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/106.3/ah00090...

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Editorial Reviews
Review
<P>This is an indispensable guide to understanding France and the French. As usual, Arthur Goldhammer's translation is superb.</P> (Foreign Affairs )

<P>This unusual book deals fascinatingly with everything from the creation of the rousing anthem "La Marseillaise" to the changing role of Joan of Arc in France's collective memory. Even the Eiffel Tower shines forth in surprising new facets.</P> (Chicago Tribune )
http://www.amazon.com/Realms-Memory-Rethinking-Conflicts-Div...

Hopefully this suggestion helps keep the idea of memory at the forefront.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangborn-Herndon_Memorial_Site

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It also serves as the place of commemoration for First World War Canadian soldiers killed or presumed dead in France who have no known grave. The monument is the centrepiece of a 250-acre (100 ha) preserved battlefield park that encompasses a portion of the grounds over which the Canadian Corps made their assault during the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a military engagement fought as part of the Battle of Arras.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Vimy_Memorial

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Buchenwald memorial site near Weimar
Buchenwald concentration camp on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, which operated as a labour camp between 1937 and 1945, was one of the largest in Germany. A total of 250,000 people from all over Europe were imprisoned at the camp during this period, over 50,000 of whom did not survive. After the camp was liberated in 1945, the site continued to be used as an internment camp by the occupying Soviet forces.
http://www.germany-tourism.co.uk/EGB/attractions_events/muse...