Ypres ( , ; , ) is a
Belgian
municipality located in the
Flemish
province of West Flanders
. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres
and the villages of Boezinge
, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke
, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke
, and Zuidschote.
Together, they count some 34.900 inhabitants.
During
World War I, Ypres was the centre
of intense and sustained battles between the
German and the Allied forces. During the war,
Tommies nicknamed the city
"Wipers."
History
Origins to World War I
Ypres is an ancient town, and is known to have been raided by the
Romans in the first century BC.
During the
Middle Ages, Ypres was a
prosperous city with a population of 40,000, renowned for its
linen trade with England, which was mentioned
in the
Canterbury Tales.
It was the hometown of
William of
Ypres, a commander of Flemish mercenaries in England who was
reckoned among the more able of the military commanders fighting
for
King Stephen in his prolonged
civil war with the
Empress
Matilda.
In order to prosper and maintain its wealth, Ypres had to be
fortified to keep out invaders. Parts of the early ramparts, dating
from
1385, still survive near the Rijselpoort
(Lille Gate).
The famous
Cloth
Hall
was built in the thirteenth century. During
this time also,
cats, then the symbol of the
devil and witchcraft, were thrown off Cloth Hall, possibly due to
the belief that this would get rid of evil demons. Today, this act
is commemorated with a
triennial Cat Parade through town.
Over time, the earthworks were replaced by sturdier masonry and
earthen structures and a partial
moat.
Ypres was
further fortified in 17th and 18th centuries while under the
occupation of the Habsburgs and the
French
. Major works were completed at the end of
the 17th century by the
French
military engineer
Sebastien Le Prestre,
Seigneur de Vauban.
World War I

Ypres On Fire
Ypres
occupied a strategic position during World
War I because it stood in the path of Germany's planned sweep
across the rest of Belgium
and into
France
from the north (the Schlieffen Plan). The
neutrality of Belgium
was guaranteed by Britain; Germany's invasion of Belgium brought
the
British Empire into the war. The
German army surrounded the city on three sides, bombarding it
throughout much of the war. To counterattack, British, French and
allied forces made costly advances from the
Ypres Salient into the German lines on the
surrounding hills.
In the
First Battle of
Ypres
(31 October to 22 November 1914) the Allies
captured the town from the Germans. In the Second Battle
of Ypres
(22 April to 25 May 1915) the Germans used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front (they had used it
earlier at the Battle of Bolimov
on 3 January 1915) and captured high ground east of the
town. The first gas attack occurred against
Canadian, British, and French soldiers; including both metropolitan
French soldiers as well as Senegalese
and Algerian
tirailleurs (light
infantry) from French Africa. The gas used was
chlorine gas.
Mustard
gas, also called
Yperite from the name of this
city, was also used for the first time near Ypres in the autumn of
1917.

Ruins of Ypres – 1919
Of the
battles, the largest, best-known, and most costly in human
suffering was the Third Battle of Ypres
(21 July to 6 November 1917, also known as the
Battle of
Passchendaele
) in which the British, Canadians, ANZAC and French forces recaptured the Passchendaele
ridge east of the city at a terrible cost of
lives. After months of fighting, this battle resulted in
nearly half a million casualties to all sides, and only several
miles of ground won by Allied forces. The town was all but
obliterated by the artillery fire.
English-speaking soldiers in that war often referred to Ypres by
the mispronunciation "Wipers". British soldiers even self-published
a wartime newspaper called the "
Wipers
Times".
Ypres today
After the war the town was rebuilt using money paid by Germany in
reparations, with the main square, including the Cloth Hall and
town hall, being rebuilt as close to the original designs as
possible. (The rest of the rebuilt town is more modern in
appearance.) The Cloth Hall today is home to
In Flanders Fields Museum,
dedicated to Ypres's role in the First World War.
Ypres these days has the title of "city of peace" and maintains a
close friendship with another town on which war had a profound
impact:
Hiroshima.
Both towns witnessed
warfare at its worst: Ypres was one of the first places where
chemical warfare was employed
, while Hiroshima suffered the debut of nuclear warfare. The city governments
of Ypres and Hiroshima advocate for cities never to be targets
again and campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The City
of Ypres hosts the international campaign secretariat of Mayors for
Peace, an international Mayoral organization mobilizing cities and
citizens worldwide to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons by the
year 2020.
Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign
War graves, both of the Allied side and the Central Powers, cover
the landscape around Ypres.
The largest are Langemark
German war cemetery
and Tyne Cot
Commonwealth war cemetery
.
The
countryside around Ypres (Flanders
Fields) is featured in the famous poem by John McCrae, In Flanders Fields
.
Saint George's
Memorial Church commemorates the British and Commonwealth
soldiers, who died in the five battles fought for Ypres during
World War I.
Sights
Town centre
The
imposing Cloth
Hall
was built in the 13th century and was one of the
largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages. The
structure which stands today is the exact copy of the original
medieval building, rebuilt after the war. The
belfry that surmounts the
hall houses a 49-bell
carillon.
The whole
complex was designated a World
Heritage Site by UNESCO
in
1999.
The
Gothic-style Saint Martin's
church, originally built in 1221, was also completely reconstructed
after the war, but now with a higher spire. It houses the tombs of
Jansenius,
bishop of Ypres and father of the religious
movement known as
Jansenism, and of
Robert of Bethune, nicknamed
"The Lion of Flanders", who was
Count of
Nevers (1273-1322) and
Count of
Flanders (1305–1322).
Menin Gate
The
Menin Gate
Memorial
2 in Ypres commemorates those soldiers of
the British Commonwealth - with the exception of New Zealand and
Newfoundland - who fell in the Ypres
Salient during the First World War before 16 August 1917, who
have no known grave. Those who died from that date - and all
from New Zealand and Newfoundland - are commemorated elsewhere. The
memorial's location is especially poignant as it lies on the
eastward route from the town which allied soldiers would have taken
towards the fighting - many never to return. Every evening since
1928, at precisely eight o'clock, traffic around the imposing
arches of the Menin Gate Memorial has been stopped while the
Last Post is sounded beneath the
Gate by the local fire brigade. This tribute is given in honour of
the memory of
British Empire soldiers
who fought and died there. The Menin Gate in Ypres only records the
soldiers for whom there is no known grave, As graves are
discovered, the names are removed from the Menin Gate.
The ceremony was prohibited by occupying German forces during the
Second World War, but it was resumed on the very evening of
liberation — 6 September 1944 — notwithstanding the heavy fighting
that still went on in other parts of the town.
The lions that marked
the original gate were given to Australia by the people of Belgium
and can be found at the Australian War Memorial
in Canberra
.
- ::"Who will remember, passing through this Gate,
- ::The unheroic Dead who fed the guns?"
- :::-- Siegfried Sassoon,
On Passing the Menin Gate
Events
- The Cat Parade ("Kattenstoet") takes
place every three years on the second Sunday of May. It involves
the throwing of toy cats from the belfry and a colourful parade of
cats and witches. The latest Cat Parade took place on May 10,
2009.
- Ypres is also the home of the Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally
since its creation in 1965. It is organized by the Auto Club Targa
Florio. Some of the drivers to have taken part are among the
best-known names in rallying, such as Juha Kankkunen, Bruno
Thiry, Henri Toivonen, Colin McRae, Jimmy
McRae, Marc Duez, François Duval, and Freddy Loix among others.
- Ypres holds an annual canoe polo tournament in which teams come
from all over Europe to play
Famous inhabitants
- Catherine Verfaillie (b.
Ypres, 1957), MD and stem cell pioneer
- Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638),
bishop of Ypres and father of the Jansenism movement
- Erik Vermeulen (b. 1959), jazz
pianist
- Henk Lauwers (b. 1956), classical
baritone singer
- Jacob Clemens non Papa
(ca. 1510-1556), Renaissance composer
- Jules Malou (1810-1886), politician,
Prime Minister of Belgium
from 1871 to 1878 and in 1884
- Lernout & Hauspie,
founders of the speech technology company of the same name
- Nicholas Lens (b. 1957), author
and composer
- Renaat Landuyt (b. 1958),
politician, Belgian minister
- Simona Noorenbergh (b.
1907 -
Fane 1990), nun, social
worker, co-founder of Fane,
Papua New
Guinea

- Yves Leterme (b. 1960), Politician,
former prime minister of Belgium

- Walter Fiers (b.Ypres ,1931),
molecular biologist
Twin cities
Photo Gallery
File:St Martin's Cathedral Ypres.JPG|Saint Martin's
ChurchFile:Ypres-necropole-national-gravestones.redvers.jpg|Necropole
national gravestonesFile:Belgie ieper lakenhal nacht.jpg|Cloth Hall
at night
File:Menin Gate.jpeg|The Menin Gate
File:MeninGateCeremony.jpg|The ceremony at
the Menin
Gate
File:Ieper_-_Saint_George's_Memorial_Church_1.jpg|Saint
George's Memorial ChurchFile:Kattenstoet
(2).JPG|KattenstoetFile:Fountain-grote-markt-ieper.redvers.jpg|The
fountain in the Grote Markt, Ieper, opposite the Cloth Hall
See also
Notes
- Ypres/Ieper: historical background
- See chapter 5.6.2 (in Dutch)
- [1] "It commemorates those of all Commonwealth
nations (except New Zealand) who died in the Salient, in the case
of United Kingdom casualties before 16 August 1917. Those United
Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are
named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest
point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the
end of the war. Other New Zealand casualties are commemorated on
memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British
Cemetery."
- http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/cwgc_ypressalient.pdf
Footnote
2The gate is called
"Menin Gate" because it is situated on the road to another Flemish
city, Menin
in French or a (deprecated) variant name in
English, Menen
in Dutch or English.
External links