As well as digital exhibits and short films the museum also includes a reconstruction of the forest battlefield designed to immerse visitors in to the realities of the conflict.The Bastogne War Museum is located near the famous Mardasson Memorial which honours the American soldiers who were wounded or killed during the battle.
In December 1944, the Germans launched a major offensive on the western front through the densely forested Ardennes region in Belgium and Luxembourg. Intended to stop the Allies from using the Antwerp port, the Germans wanted to split, encircle and destroy the Allied forces.
On the morning of December 14 1944, the Germans achieved a total surprise attack because of Allied overconfidence and poor weather preventing reconnaissance. The Americans suffered the worst casualties of any operation in the war. However, the Germans also took a large depletion in their forces and were resisted around Bastogne. As the weather improved and Allied troops were reinforced, the German offence was broken and eventually retreated to the Siegfried Line.
After 4 years of work, in March 2014 the Bastogne War Museum was opened on the former site of the Bastogne Historical Centre. The museum was built to a unique 5-pointed American star design – seen best from above, highlighted in yellow – much like the Mardasson Memorial located on the same grounds.
Today, the museum is part of the Liberation Route Europe and using scenography and witness testimonial brings a human element to telling the story of the Battle of the Bulge. The exhibition route is punctuated with informative and interactive displays – great for visitors of all ages.
In addition to the permanent exhibition, Bastogne War Museum also holds temporary exhibitions called ‘Story Bubbles’. Full price is 16€ and the museum is open from 9.30am to 6pm every day.
If driving from Antwerp, from the E9 take the E411 towards Chaussée des Ardennes, exiting at 18-Marche and following the N4 to the museum. The closest train station is Libramont. The bus route 6 also passes by the museum.
]]>At a height of 122.3m (just over 400 feet) it includes the second tallest brickwork tower in the world (after St. Martin’s Church in Landshut, Germany) and is the tallest spire in Belgium.
Today, visitors to the Church of Our Lady can walk up the tight circular staircase for a remarkable view of the city centre square. Among the other attractions to be found within the church are the impressive 16th century tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter, Mary of Burgundy, who ruled the Low Countries until her death in 1482, at the age of just 25, after a fall from her horse.
Perhaps the most famous element of the Church of Our Lady in Bruges is the white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo in approximately 1504. It is one of just a handful of Michelangelo’s sculptures to be found outside Italy.
The streets around the Church of Our Lady are welcoming, and some of the best chocolate shops in the world can be visited nearby!
The Church is located in the Steenstraat Quarter of Bruges. From the centre of Bruges, the Church of Our Lady is a scenic 7 minute walk via Oude Burg, or a 13 minute drive via R30.
]]>During the war, the site of Essex Farm Cemetery was the location of an Advanced Dressing Station or ‘ADS’. This particular ADS was the site where Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army Medical Corps wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields” in May 1915.
The land south of Essex Farm was used as a dressing station cemetery from April 1915 to August 1917. The burials were made without a definite plan as this was a wartime cemetery. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.
Essex Farm Cemetery is probably one of the most visited sites in the Salient, and this is largely because of its association with John McCrae. John McCrae was a Canadian, born in Ontario in 1871, who qualified in medicine at Toronto in 1898. He served with the Artillery during the Boer War. From 1901 until 1914, he practised as a doctor in Canada and in England.
McCrae enlisted with the Canadian Field Artillery a few weeks after the outbreak of the First World War and was sent overseas in September 1914. He was moved to write the famous poem “In Flanders Fields“ whilst stationed at Essex Farm in 1915 after the death of one of his friends Alexis Helmer.
“In Flanders Fields” was published for the first time in Punch in December that year, and has since come to encapsulate the sacrifice of those who fought. Unfortunately, Helmer’s grave was lost later in the War, and he is commemorated on Panel 10 of the Menin Gate in Ypres.
Today, relics from the conflict lie just below the surface almost everywhere. Excavations in October 2001 uncovered a narrow-gauge railway, which would have been used to transport supplies.
The 49th Division Memorial is behind the cemetery on the canal bank.
The cemetery is located in Boezinge, a village in the province of West Flanders, north of Ieper on the Diksmuidseweg road (N369). From the station turn left into M.Fochlaan and go to the roundabout, then turn right and continue to the next roundabout. Turn left and drive to the next roundabout and then turn right into Oude Veurnestraat. At the roundabout turn left onto the Diksmuidseweg, and follow the road under the motorway bridge. The Cemetery is on the right-hand side of the road.
]]>The Grand Place, known as the Grote Markt in Dutch, is considered one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. Originally an 11th century marketplace in the early city of Brussels, the Grand Place had become by the 14th century associated with the city’s merchants and tradesmen.
The market had been located along an important commercial road called the Causeway, which connected the County of Flanders to the prosperous regions of the Rhineland. Three indoor markets had been built on the northern edge in the 13th century: the meat market, bread market and cloth market.
Until the 14th century, the Grand Place had not been formally planned out. The city of Brussels expropriated and demolished a number of buildings in the square when it commissioned the construction of a large indoor cloth hall to the south of the square.
The Town Hall of Brussels was built in the square between 1401 and 1455. This was met by a corresponding symbol of ducal power when the Duke of Brabant ordered the construction of a building across from the Town Hall. This became known as the King’s House.
The Grand Place was bombarded by a French army in 1695 which destroyed much of its buildings. The city’s guilds rebuilt the square. It was sacked in the late 18th century during the Brabant Revolution.
The Grand Place has been at the centre of Brussels for a millennium and has consequently been the location of a number of significant historic events, from the execution of Protestant martyrs by the Inquisition to the foundation of the Belgian Labour Party.
The Grand Place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Every year, a large flower carpet is installed in the centre of the square as part of its calendar of regular cultural events.
The Grand Place is a natural destination for visitors to Brussels. The Grand Place receives tens of thousands of tourists every year and is unmissable in the centre of the city. Walking tours often begin in the Grand Place.
]]>The Gravensteen features a large central donjon and a permanent residence which was home to the Counts of Flanders between 1180 and 1353. It is surrounded by a defensive enclosure lined with overhanging, wall-mounted turrets, and a moat fed by the river Lys.
The site of the Gravensteen was originally the location of a castle built during the reign of Arnulf I (890-965) and fortified around 1000. It was situated between two tributaries of the Lys river. A motte-and-bailey was developed on the site which burned down around 1176.
The same site was used for the current structure, which was built by Philip of Alsace (1143-1191) in 1180. Philip was Count of Flanders and participated in two crusades to the Holy Land, where he died.
The crusader castles Philip saw may have informed the design of the Gravensteen. It functioned as a protective citadel and also performed an intimidating role against the burghers of Ghent. These citizens often challenged the authority of the count.
The castle was used as a court and a prison until the 18th century. It was also the location of Ghent’s mint in the 14th and 15th centuries. An industrialist purchased the castle during the Industrial Revolution and converted the structure into a cotton mill.
The fortress today owes part of its appearance to modern restoration projects. The Gravensteen was restored in line with architect Joseph de Waele’s romanticising Gothic style of restorations in the city of Ghent between 1893 and 1907. The castle is a major landmark in the centre of Ghent.
A ticket permits entrance to the castle. The site today hosts a macabre torture museum. Visitors can also make use of an audio guide as they walk around the castle.
The Gravensteen is located in the Belgian city of Ghent and can be reached by train and bus from Gent Sint-Pieters station. It is usually open every day from 10am to 6pm, while last tickets at the box office are sold at 4.40pm. It is closed over Christmas and on New Year’s Day.
]]>Originally used to control access to the Scheldt River and protect against Viking raids, the site has been in use since at least the 9th or 10th centuries and is considered to be Antwerp’s oldest building. Significantly updated from 1220–1225AD as a huge stone fortification (leading to its present name, which means ‘the stone’), Het Steen was again rebuilt around 1520AD by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Much of the castle complex was demolished in the 19th century, leaving little of the original structure surviving today. In 1890, Het Steen became the museum of archaeology, and in 1952 an annex was added to house the museum of Antwerp maritime history, which moved in 2011. The most prominent element of the castle to survive is the picturesque entrance gate.
In modern times, Het Steen served as the city’s maritime museum. However, the museum was moved in 2010 to the new Museum Aan de Stroom. In 2012, a new children’s play centre was opened at Het Steen as part of a youth educational centre which runs creative workshops and activities.
The external fortifications can still be viewed from the street by the wider public as part of the pretty and historic buildings in Antwerp’s scenic old town.
From the centre of Antwerp, Het Steen is reachable in around 5 minutes by car via the Ernest Van Dijckkaai road. By foot, the site is reachable in around 8 minutes via Suikerrui road or Grote Markt.
]]>A private museum was later opened at the site and the trenches were partially-restored to ensure they survived the increasing number of visitors. Today visitors can explore these trenches and covered passageways as well as a section of the underground tunnel system.
Hill 62 gained its name early in World War One because it was literally 62 metres above sea-level, looking out over the town of Ypres. The name Sanctuary Wood dates back to October 1914 when the trees were used as cover – a ‘sanctuary’ – for stragglers waiting to rejoin their units. At this early point of the war, the wood was relatively quiet. However, by November 1014, heavy shelling showed the reputation to be short-lived.
The museum, now owned by Jacques Schier, the grandson of a farmer who had founded the museum and owned the site both before, during and after the war. Jacques kept the land as it was after World War One, and opened a museum including a rare collection of photographs, weapons, uniforms and bombs. Behind the museum lay a preserved section of British trenches.
During World War Two, the museum closed and the artefacts were buried under the concrete cellar – visiting Germans were told the artefacts had been stolen by the British.
Today, the Hill 62 Sanctuary Wood Museum is considered to offer the finest preserved trenches on the Western Front. The museum itself is a small, family-run affair and contains a number of artefacts from the site as well as images from the war – note these images are quite graphic in places. Visitors can walk through the trenches dug in over a century ago, and you can clearly see the trees ripped apart by bullets.
The museum also features a small bar, cafe and gift shop for after your visit. Close-by are the Sanctuary Wood Cemetery and Memorial, containing over 2,000 burials.
From Ypres, Hill 62 Sanctuary Wood Museum is a 10 minute car drive via Zuiderring and the N37. Take the road called Canadalaan which leads to the museum. The museum is an hours drive from Dunkirk in France via N8. You can also get the 84 train from Ypres/Ieper Station for 15 minutes to stop Geluveld Zandberg, before walking 20 minutes to the museum.
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