Hooge Crater Museum

Om museet

The museum is located in Hooge, near Zillebeke, on a spot that during the First World War was among the fiercest front-line areas of the Ypres Salient. In 1915 British tunnellers blew up a mine here, and the crater it created gave the museum its name. The crater itself no longer exists, but it has been symbolically recreated at the Hooge Crater Cemetery military cemetery, directly opposite the museum.

The building is a chapel that Baron Gaston de Vinck had built in 1927 to replace a barrack chapel. The chapel and sacristy were built onto an existing school. In the late 1970s teaching stopped because of a shortage of pupils, and in 1989 church services came to an end too. In 1992 the De Smul family bought the building and, together with Philippe Oosterlinck, opened the museum at Easter 1994.

Since January 2008 Niek and Ilse Benoot-Watteyne have run the museum. They expanded it and bought new collections. The museum displays the collections of curator Niek Benoot and of Philippe Oosterlinck: a large series of weapons, and the uniforms and equipment of all the armies that fought in the Ypres Salient, supplemented by life-size scenes, including British trenches, German bunkers and cavalry. In 2012 a new wing with a screening room was added. Next to the museum is a themed café.

Højdepunkter

• Life-size reconstructions of First World War battle scenes
• Extensive collection of weapons, uniforms and equipment from all armies
• Original 1916 Ford Model T ambulance and a replica of a Fokker DR1
• Screening room with footage of the battlefields around Hooge
• Excavated trench from the Yorkshire Trench in Boezinge
• Children's trail with the Hooge Boys

Permanent udstilling

• Hooge Crater Museum – permanente collectie – Life-size scenes, weapons, uniforms and equipment of the armies in the Ypres Salient, plus a screening room about the battlefields around Hooge.

Grundlagt

1994

Ejer

Privémuseum (Niek en Ilse Benoot-Watteyne)

Entrépriser & rabatter

Payment is possible in cash or by debit card. Separate rates apply for schools: pupils €4.50 per person, teachers free (1 per 10 pupils). Groups of 20 or more can combine the museum visit with a meal or coffee in the themed café.

Tilgængelighed

Museet har ikke offentliggjort oplysninger om dette.

Børn og familie

Velegnet til børn og familier

• Opgavehæfte, skattejagt eller audioguide for børn

Children explore independently with the Hooge Boys trail: with a form and a map they discover films, fun facts and tasks. The information boards are at children's height and written in simple words.

Transport & parkering

The museum is in the hamlet of Hooge on the Meenseweg, about 4 km east of Ypres and close to Bellewaerde; follow the N8 and the brown Bellewaerde sign. It is also easy to reach by bicycle: the Ypres Salient cycle route runs past the door.

Service & spisesteder

• Café

The themed café next to the museum seats more than 170 guests (120 seats indoors and more than 50 on the terrace) and serves regional beers, snacks, croques and ice cream. There is a webshop; a bicycle park with charging points for e-bikes is next to the café.

Arrangementer & udlejning

Museet har ikke offentliggjort oplysninger om dette.

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