Reopening date confirmed for French War & Peace Museum

The museum closed for refurbishment in 2008, and its reopening falls across the four year period that marks 100 years since World War One.

The French Ardennes played an important part in the history of conflict, and stands at the gateway to the sites and museums dedicated to preserving the memory of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and World Wars One and Two, in Novion-Porcien.

The War & Peace Museum commemorates the ‘House of the Last Cartridge’, in Bazeilles – a village eight kilometres from Sedan – where a group of seventy men stood up to 2,300 Prussians in September 1870.

Groups visiting the museum will also learn about the life of German and French troops in the trenches in World War One.

Weaponry, uniforms, and supplies, plus details of how the troops entertained themselves during the long war years are all on display in the museum, along with many other depictions of war and peace.

There will also be an opportunity to learn about the Maginot Line. This fortified underground system, which was falsely proclaimed as being impenetrable, ran through the French Ardennes, and this will be commemorated in the new-look museum.

For more information on the line, GTOs can book an English-speaking guided tour below ground along the Maginot Line at Fort of La Ferté, which is now preserved as a war memorial.

More in the French Ardennes

Groups who’d like to learn more about the history of the region can take two new guided tours, which will be introduced in the commune of Charleville-Mézières in 2017.

A Beffroi Tour will give visitors the chance to climb the Charleville-Mézières tower and take-in panoramic views of the town for the first time.

The other guided tour, the Tour du Roy, will explore one of the last remaining sections of Charleville-Mézières’ historic fortifications.

For further information on visiting the Ardennes, visit gb.ardennes.com.

(Photo crdit: Paul Dupont).