#ieper

[minarachelle]

Bellewaerde, Belgium - 2022

[heritagebrowser]

View from the belfry tower of Ypres (Ieper), with the tower of the Saint-Martin's Cathedral in the distance.

A belfry or hall tower is a medieval watchtower with a storm bell. More generally, 'belfry' refers to an urban tower in the Southern Netherlands (read: Belgium and Northern France). This type of tower was often built on or attached to a town hall or commercial cloth hall and was the place where the city bells were hung. A group of 56 belfries in Belgium and France are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In the 13th century, the city of Ypres, as a testament to its power and wealth, built its public buildings in stone. And she does so with ambition: the Ypres cloth hall and the belfry are, at that time, one of the most impressive civil buildings in Europe! The Cloth Halls served as a covered sales and storage place for cloth on the (now arched) waterway, the Ieperlee. Construction of the halls was completed in 1304.

The Ypres belfry, 70 meters high, emphasizes the enormous importance of the cloth trade. This leads to the wealth and power of medieval Ypres. The belfry was the safest and best protected place in the city during the Middle Ages. It is also the storage place for the 'free letters' (documents declaring priviliges, local souvereignity and autonomy of the city) and for the treasury. The tower also serves as a weapons storage facility and as a watchtower to see approaching anemies of spot fires.

The tower, with its exception of the base was destroyed during the First World War and reconstructed.

[theworldofwars]

Russian soldier teaching German POWs a Cossack dance in the snow circa 1915

[ivovynckier]

What's the best music ever written for Remembrance Day - the end of World War I?

Jef Neve's soundtrack for "In Flanders Field".

(Jef Neve is a Belgium jazz musician and part time film composer.)

[witekspicsoldpostcards2]

YPEREN / IEPER - BELGIA

[philoursmars]

Je reviens à mon projet de présenter la plupart de mes 53280 photos (environ !)

2012. Lille, le Muséum des Beaux-Arts, avec en alternance des plans-maquettes du XVIIIe s., commandités par Vauban - je crois !  (dans l’ordre : Ypres, Tournai, Namur et Lille).

[the-greatwar]

Een interessant boek over het beleg van Ieper in de Eerste Wereldoorlog, maar nu vanuit Duitse perspectief. Ontzettend veel foto’s en ook een aantal wandelkaarten waarmee je bunkers en andere verdedigingswerken van de Duitsers kunt bezoeken. Het boek is in het Nederlands en het Engels te verkrijgen. 

An interesting book about the siege of Ypres in the First World War, but now from a German perspective. A lot of pictures and also a number of walking maps with which you can visit bunkers and other defenses of the German army. The book is available in Dutch and Englich

[reflet-de-la-lune]

Ypres en Belgique

Dessins de Gérard Michel