Ypres (Ieper in Dutch), a city of profound historical significance, stands as a powerful testament to remembrance and resilience in West Flanders, Belgium. While its medieval Cloth Hall – a magnificent Gothic structure meticulously rebuilt after its near-total destruction in WWI – speaks of a prosperous past, it is the city’s role in the Great War that truly defines it.

Ypres was at the heart of the infamous Ypres Salient, a bulge in the Western Front where some of the most brutal fighting occurred. Today, visitors come to pay their respects at numerous memorials and cemeteries that dot the surrounding “Flanders Fields.” The most poignant is the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, where, every evening at 8 PM, buglers perform the Last Post ceremony, a moving tribute to the thousands of Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. The In Flanders Fields Museum, housed within the Cloth Hall, offers an immersive and deeply personal journey through the war. Ypres is a place not only to learn about history but to feel its weight and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.