Ypres
TIME : 2016/2/22 9:56:21
Ypres
Despite the traditional charms of historic Ypres (or Ieper, in Dutch), the Flemish town remains inextricably linked to its harrowing past, as the site of some of WWI’s most notorious battlefields. Some 300,000 Allied Soldiers lost their lives here during WWI, as three major battles swept along the Ypres Salient and the town itself was completely destroyed. Touring the infamous ‘Flanders Fields’, immortalized in John McCrae’s eponymous war poem, is one of the main reasons for visiting Ypres and a number of poignant war memorials, museums and cemeteries now mark the former battlefields on the outskirts of the modern town.
Post-war Ypres’ medieval center was rebuilt in its original style and the reconstruction efforts resulted in some strikingly authentic ‘medieval’ architecture. Highlights include the Gothic-style Saint Martin’s cathedral; the Menin Gate, a memorial for the missing British and Commonwealth Soldiers of WWI, which hosts a moving Last Post ceremony each evening; and the UNESCO World Heritage listed Lakenhalle (Cloth Hall), a nod to Ypres’ textile-producing roots, which now houses the In Flanders Fields Museum.
