Yser Towers
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51°01′54″N 2°51′12″E / 51.03167°N 2.85333°E
The Yser Towers (Dutch: IJzertoren) are a monument complex near the Yser river at Diksmuide, West Flanders in Belgium. The first tower was built in 1928–30 to commemorate the Belgian soldiers killed on the surrounding Yser Front during World War I and as a monument to Christian pacifism. However, it subsequently became an important political symbol for the Flemish Movement and was destroyed in 1946 as a result of its association with Flemish nationalist collaboration in German-occupied Belgium in World War II. The current tower was rebuilt alongside the remains of the original and copied its design. It was finished in 1965. It remains a site of political significance to Flemish nationalists and is the center for their annual Yser Pilgrimage (IJzerbedevaart).
Tower
First tower, 1930–1946
The idea for a distinct monument in
The tower was finished in 1930 and incorporated the Frontbeweging's
The association of the Flemish Movement, especially the VNV, with
Second tower, 1965–present
The second tower still stands at the site near to the remnants of the first. It was built to roughly the same design as the first but is larger at 84 metres (276 ft) tall. The four sides of the base of the tower read "Never war again" in the three languages of Belgium, as well as in English. Work began in July 1952. The crypt was finished on 11 November 1958 and the tower itself was officially inaugurated on 22 August 1965.
The tower houses the Yser Museum (Museum aan de IJzer) which belongs to the United Nations network of peace museums. The museum houses the large painting, The Golden Canvass of Flanders (Het Gulden Doek van Vlaanderen) by Dutch-born Belgian painter Henry Luyten. The painting depicts a fictional meeting of the one hundred people who in Luyten's opinion played the most important roles in Flemish history. It is situated close to the preserved section of wartime trenches known as the "Trench of Death" (Dodengang).
See also
- Anton van Wilderode
- King Albert I Memorial (1938)
- List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Flanders
- Monument to the Battle of the Nations (1913)
Further reading
- Shelby, Karen D., ed. (2014). Flemish Nationalism and the Great War: The Politics of Memory, Visual Culture and Commemoration. Houndmills: Palgrave-Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-39171-1.
External links
