History

The ten-year-old museum in Ypres, In Flanders Fields, is about to receive a complete facelift in preparation of the 100-year commemoration of the First World War in 2014. The museum will be incorporated with the Laken Hall, the impressive landmark on the great marketplace in the town of Ieper. The architectural firm Noa, well-known for its ability to incorporate modern architecture with protected monuments, will construct new staircases and lifts, and improve circulation in this 130-metre long building with its 43 doors facing the Grand Market. Renovations will start in September and are scheduled for completion in 2012. The whole concept of the museum, which was awarded the undisputed status of historical sensation in 1999, will also undergo a change, with more original pieces and objects on display. In Flanders Fields will provide a broad outline of the fight for a position in the Westhoek) and act as point of reference to other sites dealing with the First World War. The museum will further focus on the landscape, evoking memories of the war with Flanders Earth, a panorama containing aerial shots that viewers can click on from an observation balloon under the belfry tower. Says coordinator Piet Chielens: "At present In Flanders Fields strongly represents the personal story, focusing on ordinary citizens and how the Great War affected their lives. Now that there are less and less witnesses, the monuments, cemeteries and bunkers have become the most authentic places for a rendezvous with history." In Flanders Fields receives in the region of 200,000 visitors each year. With an increase in requests for more information on the personal stories of family members who died in the Westhoek, a knowledge centre will be incorporated in the Lakenhallen.