Reconstruction of Ypres Part II

[ejwalshe]

This sign asks tourists to respect the remains of Ypres, date unknown. The ruins of the town became so famous that visitors would steal pieces of rubble as souvenirs. Town planners wanted to use the old material for rebuilding, so this theft became a problem.

When the Great War ended, British Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill, said Ypres should be left as a ruin in memory of the British and Empire soldiers who died fighting there. The people of Ypres had other ideas and over the space of a few years they rebuilt their town.

Within a year of the war's end rebuilding was well under way. Many of the new buildings were temporary wooden hotels which served tourists from Britain who wanted to visit this famous battlefield.

 

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