The Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres
The medieval town of Ypres was a center of the Flemish textile trade that had its heyday in the 13th century. As the centuries passed the town was repeatedly razed in various wars over territory; it was hardest hit with some of the fiercest fighting of World War I, when the lives of 500,000 Allied and German soldiers were lost in the area. So it’s no surprise that several of the top five things to do in Ypres are war-related.
Ypres is 45 kilometers (28 miles) southwest of Bruges among now-tranquil Flanders fields sprinkled with military cemeteries and preserved sections of battle trenches. The town’s striking medieval buildings were blown apart in WWI but were accurately restored, brick by brick, to their former splendor.
In Flanders Field Museum
First stop should be this award-wining museum found in Ypres’ finest building, the beautifully reconstructed Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle in Flemish), with its soaring, central bell tower. Its spacious interior has been converted into an interactive museum detailing the atrocities of WWI through film, including harrowing personal accounts and images of desolate Flanders trenches. It’s one of the foremost European museums for conveying the true horrors of war. Unmissable.
Museum Godshuis Belle
Ypres’ most prized artistic treasure, a gleaming portrait of the Blessed Virgin by an anonymous artist in 1420, is to be found in this surprisingly good — but small — museum in a reconstructed 13th-century almshouse on Rijselsestraat. The quality of paintings, tapestries and silverware on display reflect the former wealth and importance of Ypres.
Tyne Cot Cemetery
In the few square miles of the Ypres Salient battlefield, 250,000 soldiers from the British Empire, France and Belgium died in WWI, and many are laid to rest in Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth military cemetery in the world. Located near Zonnebeke, 9.5 kilometers (six miles) from Ypres, it contains the graves of nearly 12,000 soldiers who died between 1914 and 1918 fighting in the trenches. Laid out in orderly lines, the graves of unknown soldiers are marked bleakly, “Known unto God.” Names of 35,000 soldiers who have no known grave are etched on the vast, curved memorial wall, and there’s a small, heart-rending museum attached to the cemetery displaying personal photos and letters found among the trenches.
Menin Gate Memorial
Ypres’ offering to the dead of WWI is the Menin Gate; the walls of this marble memorial arch are inscribed with the names of 54,896 Commonwealth troops killed around the Ypres Salient who have no known grave. The highly emotional Last Post ceremony takes place at 8 p.m. every evening, when hundreds of hushed visitors and war veterans pay their respects to the fallen.
Bellewaerde Park
And lastly, something for the kids: Bellewaerde combines a theme park with a wildlife reserve dedicated to conservation. Attractions include daredevil stunt shows, adrenaline-pumping rides and plenty of gentle roundabouts and water rides for toddlers.
– Contibuted by Sasha Heseltine
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