In the Cloth Hall, Ypres
In Flanders Fields Museum: the First World War through one person
The In Flanders Fields Museum in the Cloth Hall of Ypres tells the First World War through the people who lived it. How the bracelet works, and how long to plan.
The In Flanders Fields Museum sits inside the Cloth Hall on the Grote Markt in Ypres. It tells the First World War in Belgium through the people who lived it, not through arrows on maps.
Why it comes early in our day
On our Ypres day, the museum comes before Tyne Cot and Essex Farm. It gives the fields you stand in later a name and a date.
It is also one of the two places on the day where guests set the pace. If someone is still reading at the 90 minute mark, I let them read.
A building put back brick by brick
Before we go in, I ask guests to look at the building first. The Cloth Hall dates from the thirteenth century, from the cloth trade that made Ypres rich. Its belfry is on the UNESCO list.
The war flattened it. What stands on the square now was rebuilt brick by brick, from photographs and drawings. That choice, to rebuild it exactly, says a lot about this town.
The bracelet and the war witness
When you arrive, you get an identification bracelet. With it, you choose which war witness you want to meet in the exhibition. The interactive parts then show in your own language through that bracelet.
I explain this before guests go in, because it changes how you use the rooms. You follow one person through the war, and the rest of the day keeps that rule. Names work. Casualty totals do not.
The museum also helps you read the landscape of the Ypres Salient as an old battlefield. That helps later in the day, when you stand in those fields yourself.
How the visit runs on our day
The tickets are arranged before the day, so we walk straight in. I do not walk guests through the rooms. I stay near the entrance, and you can reach me at any time.
The belfry is 231 extra steps, with a view over the town and the old battlefields. It is not part of our plan. The museum toilets matter too, because there are none on the ramparts walk that follows.
Who it does not suit
The museum is personal, and it can be heavy. If you would rather stand on the ground itself than read about it, the trenches at Sanctuary Wood may say more to you.
It also needs time. The museum puts an average visit at one and a half to two hours. So plan for at least an hour and a half.
And watch the calendar. From mid November to the end of March, the museum is closed on Mondays. It also closes for about two weeks in January, in 2026 and again in 2027.
If you would like the museum built into a full day, tell us your dates here.
Days we ran here
- An Ypres day in July 2024, July 2024. The afternoon in the Cloth Hall, before an early dinner and the Last Post.
- A surprise birthday in Ypres, Thursday 10 September 2026. For Ruth R. and Ryan, the museum was the first stop of the day, before the beer and the cemeteries.
An Ypres day with time for the museum
The museum is part of the private Ypres day we run, with pickup at your door in Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges or anywhere else in Belgium. Lunch, dinner and drinks throughout, one party per day. Tell us your dates and we build the day around you. Days run year-round on request, and you get a personal reply within 24 hours.
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