Memorial Museum Passchendaele
Current Special Exhibition: 'Brave Little Belgium', the Final Offensive of 1918.
The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 is a relatively new museum and is housed in a chateau with large grounds at Zonnebeke, not far from Tyne Cot. In April 2008 it was voted best museum in Flanders as part of the annual Belgian museum awards.
The first section of the museum provides a chronological outline presented by exhibits and vivid tableaux supported by display boards, maps and audiovisual material. In the second section the visitor is introduced to a First World War tunnel complex complete with the thudding sounds of shells exploding above. There are communication rooms, a dressing post, headquarters, workplaces and dormitories.
Guides are available for the museum itself and for battlefield tours. The museum also operates a number of additional services such as "The Road to Passchendaele", a theme walk from the chateau up to the newly opened visitor's centre at Tyne Cot Cemetery. Between the two is the battlefield of October 4, 1917. The Tourist Office at Zonnebeke and the museum organise specialised battlefield tours in the Ypres Salient, Zonnebeke and Passchendaele areas. Groups are taken by expert guides through the Memorial Museum, Tyne Cot Cemetery and other cemeteries, trenches, bunkers and Great War sites on the Salient.
During the year there are a number of special exhibitions at the museum as well as re-enactments (right) in the grounds by societies from various countries.
The museum is closed in December and January but is otherwise open every day from 10 am to 6 pm. Contact the museum directly for group bookings, etc.
Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917Ieperstraat 5B-8980 Zonnebekeinfo@passchendaele.beTel: +32 51 77 04 41
Fax: +32 51 78 07 50