Yser Tower : a meaningful WW1 memorial for Peace and museum

De Ijzertoren of Yser Tower of Diksmuide, World War One Memorial and Museum, symbol of the Flemish movement born in the trenches of the Flanders frontline

(Browse the collection : West Flanders Province time lapse and video stock footage)

he best known war monument in Diksmuide is the Yser Tower, where you can visit the ‘Museum aan de IJzer’ with its 22 floors. On each floor, you get lots of information about life during the First World War in this region. The museum brings the story of the Belgian-German confrontation on the one hand and the Flemish emancipation on the other.

(Tourism Diskmuide)

The organisation has the ambition to make the Memorial to Flemish Emancipation and Peace a meaningful and orienting beacon, and to be a guide on the way toward the society of the future. From the Yser Tower, the organisation reaches out to all Flemish people, young and old, ethnic Flemish and newcomers, to build an open and tolerant Flanders and opt resolutely for the path of peace, freedom and tolerance. That is why it has developed a broad range of public and educational activities on the site and elsewhere, and it is extending the Museum aan de IJzer into an inclusive space for many voices, with room for critical dialogue, debate and action.

(Museum aand de Ijzer)

De Ijzertoren or Yser Tower in English, is a memorial for the Flemish soldiers who died during the first world war. On the four sides of the building the words “Never war again”, each side in a different language. On the tower itself you can also see the following letters AVV (vertical) and VVK (horizontally). Its stands for “Alles voor Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen voor Kristus”, what means “everything for Flanders, Flanders for Christ”. This is a famous saying from Flemish movements and it was also put on the crypt in front of the Yser Tower.

(Itineri)