place

Ypres Cloth Hall

Bell towers in BelgiumBuildings and structures completed in 1304Buildings and structures completed in 1967Buildings and structures in YpresMedieval architecture
Museums in West FlandersRebuilt buildings and structuresWorld War I museums in Belgium
Ieper Lakenhal R02
Ieper Lakenhal R02

The Cloth Hall (Dutch: Lakenhal/Lakenhalle) is a large cloth hall, a medieval commercial building, in Ypres, Belgium. It was one of the largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages, when it served as the main market and warehouse for the Flemish city's prosperous cloth industry. The original structure, erected mainly in the 13th century and completed 1304, lay in ruins after artillery fire devastated Ypres in World War I. Between 1933 and 1967, the hall was meticulously reconstructed to its prewar condition, under the guidance of architects J. Coomans and P. A. Pauwels. At 125 metres (410 ft) in breadth, with a 70 metres (230 ft)-high belfry tower, the Cloth Hall recalls the importance and wealth of the medieval trade city. The building now houses the In Flanders Fields Museum. In 1999, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, in recognition of their unique architecture, role in the advancement of civil liberties, and their civic, not religious, influence.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Ypres Cloth Hall (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.8512 ° E 2.8858 °
placeShow on map

Address

Lakenhalle

Grote Markt
8900
West Flanders, Belgium
mapOpen on Google Maps

linkWikiData (Q1923610)
linkOpenStreetMap (2284646)

Ieper Lakenhal R02
Ieper Lakenhal R02
Share experience

Nearby Places

Battle of Broodseinde
Battle of Broodseinde

The Battle of Broodseinde was fought on 4 October 1917 near Ypres in Belgium, at the east end of the Gheluvelt plateau, by the British Second and Fifth armies against the German 4th Army. The battle was the most successful Allied attack of the Third Battle of Ypres. Using bite-and-hold tactics, with objectives limited to what could be held against German counter-attacks, the British devastated the German defence, which prompted a crisis among the German commanders and caused a severe loss of morale in the 4th Army. Preparations were made by the Germans for local withdrawals and planning began for a greater withdrawal, which would entail the abandonment by the Germans of the Belgian coast, one of the strategic aims of the Flanders offensive. After the period of unsettled but drier weather in September, heavy rain began again on 4 October and affected the remainder of the campaign, working more to the advantage of the German defenders, being pushed back on to far less damaged ground. The British had to move their artillery forward into the area devastated by shellfire and soaked by the autumn rains, restricting the routes on which guns and ammunition could be moved, presenting German artillery with easier targets. At the Battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October, after several more days of rain, the German defence achieved a costly success, holding the approaches to Passchendaele village, the most tactically vital ground on the battlefield.