A day in Ypres (Ieper)

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Just a quiet day for a walk around Ypres. Though Ieper is the official name, the city's French name, Ypres is most commonly used in English. During the First World War, Ypres was the center of Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces. During the war it was nicknamed "Wipers", as its name was difficult for English-speaking British Imperial forces to pronounce.

Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the Romans in the first century BC. It is first mentioned by name in 1066 and is probably named after the river Ieperlee on the banks of which it was founded.

During the Middle Ages, it was a prosperous Flemish city with a population of 40,000 in 1200 AD and renowned for its linen trade with England (mentioned in the Canterbury Tales). The city, and it's surrounding villages, today, have an estimated population of only 34,900.

We walked around the city a bit and took in the sites. There were a lot of tourists in town, so we did not stay all day (too many people) :-) Walking through the church was nice. There were only 2 other people in the church and a tour group entered as we were leaving.

Nice day.

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Photos

St Martin's Cathedral
It was heavily damaged during the First World War. Subsequently (1922–1930) the ruin was cleared and the church was entirely rebuilt following the original plans, although the tower was built with a higher spire than the original.

Tomb of Louise De Laye
She was the widow of Hugonet, Chancellor of Mary of Burgundy.

Tombs
The big one in the center is the tomb of Martin Bauwen from Riethoven. He was the first bishop of Ypres from 1561 to 1583. The smaller one to the right was just a chest made in oak wood (XVth century) with a representation of St. George and the Dragon.

Tomb of Joannes De Visschere
4th Bishop of Ypres from 1611 to 1613.

Menin Gate
'I should like to acquire the whole of the ruins of Ypres...a more sacred place for the British race does not exist in the world'. (Sir Winston Churchill, January 1919).
The armies of many nations fought in the Salient, but Ypres has become particularly linked with the Commonwealth forces who served there from October 1914 to the end of the First World War. By the time the last shells fell on Pres in October 1918, the Salient had claimed 185,000 Commonwealth lives. More than 100,000 of these men have no known grave.

Menin Gate
Hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth soldiers passed through Ypres on their way to the battlefields and it was soon decided that the missing should be commemorated on a memorial there. Not surprisingly, the citizens of Ypres, anxious to rebuild their homes and lives, were not keen on Churchill's grand scheme to turn their entire town into a memorial to the fallen, but the Belgium government agreed that the Menin Gate and Ramparts should be left in their ruined state until the British government formed a more feasible plan.

Menin Gate
"To the Armies of the British Empire who stood here from 1914 to 1918 and to those of their dead who have no known grave."
Today, the Menin Gate is one of the most famous memorials in the world and probably the only monument that comes to life every evening by the Last Post Ceremony at 8pm.
The panoramic photo shows just a few of the 54,000 names within the monument.

Comments

[RFZ]

Great pictures
This was very interesting to follow; a good presentation of the "Local" flavor of this city...the cathedral was special, although the seating was not what I would have expected; glad to see that you're enjoying yourselves...

[CynXyn]

Ypres
Wow so much history in that Catherdral. Love the Moat, pretty cool what people can do. Your enjoying your retirement too much :-)