Flanders Fields

30 May 2020 until 28 February 2021

“Reconstruction is more important than destruction and deserves to be remembered.” These words of the Belgian war reporter Rudi Vranckx fit perfectly with In Flanders Fields Museum’s temporary exhibition on the post-war reconstruction. Just like in Syria today, a hundred years ago large parts of Belgium were totally destroyed. It was only thanks to the local population that towns and villages rose from their ashes.

“Feniks: Reconstructing Flanders Fields” is an ode to the resilience of forgotten men and women who cleared rubble and rebuilt their country after the First World War. In 1918, many thought that it would be impossible to fully restore the devastated regions. According to them, foresting the entire former front zone was a better option.

Feniks shows how things turned out in the end. The photo collection of the Ypres photographers Maurice and Robert Antony runs like a thread through the exhibition and offers a surprising view on the different facets of reconstruction. Personal stories and unique objects bring the story of the reconstruction to life. All this in the largest and most iconic monument to reconstruction in the country: the Ypres Cloth Hall. After all, which building better depicts post-war reconstruction than the world's largest Gothic civil structure?

In Flanders Fields Museum
Grote Markt 34
8900 Ieper
T. +32 57 23 92 20
flandersfields@ieper.be - www.inflandersfields.be