Bridging the spatial perspective in organization studies and the research on collective memory anchored in social memory studies, this paper aims to explore how collective memory progressively shapes and is shaped over time by the spatial dynamics of a memory site. The paper is based on a longitudinal analysis of the Oradour-sur-Glane memory site in France covering the period from 1944, i.e. just after the massacre of almost all the inhabitants of the village by the Nazi army, until the present day. Our findings highlight two spatial mechanisms which have progressively shaped the collective memory: 1) spatial multivocality, through the emergence of multiple sub-spaces which enable the tensions between the different “mnemonic communities” to be spatially resolved; and 2) orchestrated fluidity, based on a specific opening/closing spatial arrangement and movement through a well-balanced circuit which enables coherence of the whole site. By investigating the relationship between space and collective memory, we make contributions to these two streams of research
