In Flanders Fields Museum

This morning we visited the Museum which is housed in the rebuild Cloth Hall.

The first thing you see when you enter the Museum is this extremely emotional painting, Menin Gate at Midnight (also known as Ghosts of Menin Gate), a 1927 painting by Australian artist Will Longstaff. The painting depicts a host of ghostly soldiers marching across a field in front of the Menin Gate war memorial. The painting is part of the collection of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Longstaff painted the work after attending the unveiling of the Menin Gate memorial, at Ypres on 24 July 1927. Walking around the streets of Ypres after the ceremony, Longstaff was said to have seen a "vision of steel-helmeted spirits rising from the moonlit cornfields around him". Returning to London, Longstaff was reported to have painted the work in a single session.

The painting was immediately popular. It was purchased by Lord Woolavington for 2,000 Guineas and presented to the Australian government. After a royal command viewing for George V and the Royal family at Buckingham Palace, the painting was displayed in Manchester and Glasgow. It was then taken around Australia, where record crowds paid to view the work. Longstaff oversaw the making of 2,000 prints and the proceeds were donated towards the construction of the Australian National Memorial - the building where Longstaff’s enigmatic work is preserved and exhibited.

In December 2000 Menin Gate at Midnight left the War Memorial on loan to the National Gallery of Australia, the first time it had left the Memorial since its installation there in 1941. On the initiative of the Australian War Memorial and to coincide with the 30,000th Last Post (9 July 2015) the painting is now on display in Ypres for the first time.

Captain William Frederick Longstaff (1879–1953) was a war artist best known for his works commemorating those who died in the First World War.

This museum must be one of the best museums I have visited. It is a moving and emotional reminder of what those young men endured in the name of freedom. It is truly difficult to contemplate the numbers

of dead and missing from this tragic event in history.

Afterwards we wandered through some back lanes and came across the old Fish Market. The Fish Gate with Neptune, god of the sea, was originally built in 1714. The little building at the end is the Toll House where the vendors had to pay their toll.

The last photo is our accommodation, the Fields of Gold Bed and Breakfast. I think our bathroom is bigger than our bedroom and the bed is so comfortable it is difficult to get out of in the morning.