I've been to a few museums in my life, especially those dedicated military conflict. There's something about the In Flanders Field Museum in Ypres that sets it apart from others that I've visited. It could be the location, in the Cloth Hall building in the center of town, a massive structure that was mostly destroyed during the Great War. It could be the incredible view from the top of the belfry that I added to my tour for tow euros - probably the best two euros I will spend. It could be the way the museum tells a story with a human perspective, combining text, media, images, and material. It could be the actors the museum uses video to relay a human component of WWI in the Flanders area and the three battles of Ypres. It could be the incredible collection of artifacts the museum displays displaying, including material recently excavated from forgot trench. Actually ... it's all the above While there is little on American experience in the Great War, the museum filled in a lot of gaps about the conflict in Belgium and brought home the distraction that happened to the towns on the Western front. Using a series of aerial photographs from hundred years ago and today, making comparisons with transparencies show just how brutal the war was to civilian areas. It was much more than war in the trenches in the countryside. One of the most innovative components of the museum was that visitors wear bracelet designed with a poppy. After registering with your name, home, and age, you can check in throughout the tour to get some personalized information through primary sources. For example. near the end of the exhibits what American involvement had occurred, I was presented with the words of an American nurse. You can also get all your interactions email to you or send your smart phone - yay, technology! There are so many museums to see in the Western Front, and while I will go to a few, there is no way anyone can get to them all. I'm glad that I came to this one, especially after what I saw following my visit. That's my next post - The Last Post.
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AuthorChuck Taft ArchivesCategories |