These are the only trenches left intact from the Battles of Ypres in World War I. They are a grim…read morereminder of how millions of soldiers lived and died during the four years of the conflict. The farmer who preserved the (British/Canadian) fortifications passed them on to his grandson, who still operates a private cafe and museum on the grounds. The museum is a bit hokey, but the trenches themselves are certainly real enough. And what an odd name for the place - it was anything but a sanctuary, and within a few days of the conflict's start, any wood had been completely blown to bits.

A great place to visit & experience the Ypres salient battle field. Trenches & tunnels to explore…read more A museum full of artefacts & photographs including old slide boxes to view. It is also strewn with old shells. It's 10 euros to enter. There is a cafe for coffee & snacks. The only problem is the the 15 cats that have free rein & their associated smell within the cafe area.

This place is magnificent! Came here for the Week-End Familial for L'exposition of Degas Sculpteur…read more Throughout my years of Art History, none of my professors elaborated on the controversy revolving Edgar Degas' work. I have seen Degas work many times and his most notable sculpteur La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans lives at at Musée D'Orsay, which I have seen there and now here. I didn't know ballerinas back then were considered lower class, since the girl's family would push them to do ballet in hopes to catch an eye of the wealthy. It's almost a form of pedophile...actually it is! Degas also made this ballerina have a face of criminals. So a lot of people weren't fans of him. Moving on out of Degas, this Musée isn't magnificent because of Degas pieces...it's breathtaking because the Philanthropist kept the look and feel of La Piscine. The swimming pool was constructed between 1927 and 1932 by the Lille architect Albert Baert. It closed as a swimming pool in 1985, and was remodelled as a museum by the architect Jean-Paul Philippon, opening in 2000. A modern entrance building, special exhibition space and garden were constructed within the roof-less shell of an adjoining textile factory. The museum's permanent collection has its origins in 1835, when a collection of fabric samples from the many local textile factories was started. By 1898 the collection was housed in the National High School of Arts and Textile Industry (ENSAIT), and was seen as a way of cultivating the tastes of the town's workers, foremen and manufacturers. To this end the collection combined elements of literature, fine-arts, science and industrial products. The ENSAIT museum closed with the onset of World War II, and never reopened. From 1899 the collections were displayed in Roubaix's town hall, in preparation for the opening of La Piscine in 2000. L thought I would enjoy this Musée more, since I am not really into Modern Art and since I have a background in Textile...this would be the better choice. They have art hanging on the ceilings and original shower stalls within, beautiful garden and also they have Meert here.

Very nice atmosphere for this special museum. It has been built into the old swimming pool of…read moreRoubaix and kept plenty of accessories from this old time. You can admire sculptures and paintings there gathered by genre. You have a restaurant inside, an auditorium and a fabric room you can rent for your meetings.

Terrific museum We spent the best part of a rainy Saturday…read moreafternoon in this surprisingly good art museum. There was an extensive and varied collection of art and it was terrific value at €7. It would have been great if there had been some information in English.

I'm going to be very upfront in the beginning of this review, when I arrived at Palais des Beaux…read moreArts I was pretty burnt out with museums at this point, it was extremely cold, raining, and we were waiting in a line outside for like twenty minutes so the start to this experience was pretty miserable. Once we got into the building and through the security checkpoint, you could tell right away that this place was pretty beautiful. The building itself is 3 stories and each floor has something a little bit different to offer you. We headed down first and spent some time looking at the statues which were absolutely incredible, followed by the second floor which was a mixture of different pieces of art and a dome style room you could sit on beanbags and watch something. The main event of the show was upstairs where I couldn't even estimate the insane amount of paintings that fill the walls of the different colored rooms. The rooms themselves are all tall and covered from floor to ceiling with such incredible pieces, and everything you think you are done suddenly the red painted rooms turn into white rooms or green rooms and it just keeps going, it was truly remarkable. Overall, the Palais des Beaux Arts was a fantastic place to spend an hour or so learning about French art. Did I leave some stuff out? Yeah, because this was like my 23rd museum and at some point they start blending together. I loved how diverse the art here was and really did enjoy walking around, I highly recommend checking this place out if you are in Lille.

The story behind this place is that during some time after the war some children were playing in…read morethe forest and one of them fell down a hole. When their parents came to rescue them they discovered a huge network of preserved trenches. In fact this is apparently one of the very few preserved trenches from the war namely beause after the war ended, with the exception of a couple of patches of land, and a huge number of cemeteries, any trace of the war was pretty much destroyed. However, this is on private land but it has been opened to the public for you to crawl through the old trenches and bunkers, and it is definitely worth checking out. I came here on one of the tours, and you do need to purchase tickets to enter.

The museum building was being renovated on the outside so looked a bit shabby but once inside the…read moremaze of small rooms on the 2nd floor held information about the other allies, in the main the Belgians and their part in the war. The other interesting part to this is that they have recreated underground bunkers in the cellars which was interesting. The museum is set in a park with a lake, which would have been nice if it hadn't have been raining during our visit. Car parking is free & entrance is 5 Euro per person. Toilets are available but are a bit public, by that I mean, men & women can hear each other going!

By far the best museum for WWI. We visited The Flanders Field Museum as well as other trenches and…read morethis museum was WAY better. We had our 4 young children (ages 4-10) with us and everyone enjoyed the museum. It is so comprehensive, interactive and fabulous. I feel if you're only seeing one museum that this is the one to see. Unfortunately we went to the Flanders Field Museum after and were so disappointed after this museum. Must see!

We came across this nice little museum on the main road to Ipre. Its located in an old church &…read moreschool house right opposite the Hooge Cemetary. It has a vast amount WW1 relics & a small cafe that serves nice coffee & sandwiches. Seemed to be pretty busy with coach tours whilst we visited. Car parking was on the main road with designated free spaces. Entrance to museum was 4.50 euro. They seem to do a roaring trade in battle field relics from rusty bullets to shell casings & hand granades, not sure how customs would see these items on return to UK in the current climate. Worth a look.

Sadly on this visit the museum is closed for renovation but will reopen in June 2012. Just have to…read morecome again 19/7/2010 A truly fantastic museum, on entry you are given the identity of a soldier from the war & follow his trail in the war. Sadly many do not see the end. Ypres is a beautiful town with the Market place & cloth hall at it's heart. I would certainly recommend a trip to here.

The 'In Flanders Fields' museum was the highlight of my trip to Belgium. The whole town of Ypres is…read morewonderful, but the Mennin Gate and the In Flanders Fields museum are particularly thought-provoking and powerful. The museum itself is one of the best museums I've ever visited. I'm not even that interested in wars and all things like that, but I found it to be well-laid out and powerful. The museum is sitauted inside the old cloth building, which has been rebuilt to show the amount of damage - so there are bullet holes throughout. Inside, the museum isn't very big but it's well organised. Visitors are given a card containing the name of someone who was in WWI and throughout the museum there are boxes in which people can check up on how their characters are doing. The museum is designed to invoke a reaction. Throughout, it uses a powerful mixture of noise, films, images and words to convey the emotions of the time there are letters from soldiers saying sad things like I blew off a soldiers head today, got a bit of blood on my shirt which was a pain. It's saddening. Periodically, there are gunshots and bomb blasts overhead, for added effect. At the end of the trail in the museum there's a giftshop. They seem to have a Poppy theme throughout it, and lots of items displaying the poppies and the famous 'In Flanders Fields' poem.