Opening Bastogne War Museum

Tomorrow the completely renewed Bastogne War Museum will open its doors again. The museum is probably better known under its former name: Bastogne Historical Center. Closed since 2011, the museum was originally planned to reopen already in 2013; amongst others this was finally postponed by a fire until March 22nd, 2014. So tomorrow. Your reporter already went to have a preview at the press conference and in the museum. It became soon rather crowded, a lot of press had been attracted. The roads to the museum and the next door Mardasson were completely barred. Even the museum itself was checked for explosives with a tracking dog...



For those that remember the old museum, the interior had been completely removed and replaced and a larger part has been added as well. The museum covers the total of the war, not only the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes. It has been sub divided into ten sections of which three have been named with a scientific word as "scénovisions®". This word has been appreciated so much that it has been registered as a trade mark... Actually it is an 'experience' and comparable to the cellar of (museum) Hotel Hartenstein, to the new museum Eyewitness in Beek and Blockbuster in the War Museum of Overloon.



Mayor Benoît Lutgen during the press conference

You are guided through the ten sections starting from the First World War and the Interbellum towards the invasion of Belgium. The first ‘scénovision’ is a three dimensional movie about military operations during the war. Thereafter you follow the occupation and resistance in Belgium and onwards to the landings in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. This is connected to the second experience: you are able to completely indulge in the battle, the area has even been chilled with 10 degrees compared with the remainder of the museum. After this sensation, daily life during the war has been exposed with which the last ‘scénovision’ has been connected. You will find yourself in a little pub in Bastogne during the bomb raid of 22 December 1944 and you end up in the cellar of that pub in order to experience the ordeal the civilian population of Bastogne had to withstand. The museum further on concludes with the capitulation.





The last two pictures shows the "scénovisions".

During the press conference guided tours were provided which prevented the use of the audio guides. This audio guide accompanies you through the whole of the museum in about 1,5 to 2 hours’ time and is really a ‘must’. The experiences without the audio guide are also interesting, but if you carry one you enjoy the museum to its full extend. The audio guide uses four impersonations during the war: a 13 year old schoolboy, a school teacher, a German soldier and an American soldier (obviously from the 101st Airborne Division). With the audio guide you are able to follow their experiences. The exposition is (almost) completely being presented in four languages, so also in English. Only matters that are especially made up for kids are (so far) only in French.

A brand new museum which is very much worthwhile to be visited, with a truly marvelous presentation and its three experiences.