Let me update this older post for you and me on a wonderful road warrior run in the old picardie and now Hauts de France region, in the Somme dept 80 and nice Peronne, This is another nice off the beaten path places we all should go, Hope you enjoy the post on the Historical de la Grande Guerre museum of WWI of Peronne as I.
The Historial de la Grande Guerre or the Historial of the Great War (WWI) is located next to the medieval castle, and taken some parts of it. This museum of the history of WWI, an international research center and a documentation center. It is a an official Museum of France.
Among the most terrible moments of WWI was the Battle of the Somme, as tragic as the Battle of Verdun: from July to November 1916, it caused, all nationalities combined, more than a million victims including more than 400k dead or missing! The Historial of the Great War was born, and the location was fixed in the old castle of Péronne, which offered the double advantage of being located in the heart of an area of intense fighting from 1914 to 1918 and near an access to the autoroute du nord or northern highway. The Historial of the Great War opened in 1992. It was conceived and designed in 1986 by international specialists, it favors an approach that puts people at the center of concerns, by comparing the three main belligerent societies: Germany, France, and the United Kingdom , in fields relating to life at the front and the rear lines. On what was the front line, where more than twenty nations came to fight during WWI, the Historial was financed with European, national, regional and departmental funds. The Historial of the Great War invites visitors to question the concept of conflict , to reflect on the past, present and future world. Thus, the museum shows the profound influence on the contemporary resonances of a war, total, industrial and world.
The collections are distributed in space according to their level of belonging to the conflict and according to a comparative system between the German, British and French collections.
The Central Hall is designed as a hub around which the other four halls revolve. It offers a representation of anonymous faces from before 1914 and the series of fifty etchings Der Krieg (“The War”) produced in 1924 by Otto Dix, a volunteer and committed artist traumatized by his experience of fire.
Room I: “Pre-war, the causes of the conflict” Maps and objects present Europe and its tensions before August 1914. The British Empire of George V, the German Empire of William II, the Republic of Raymond Poincaré compete for settlements, economic outlets, and spheres of military and cultural influence. The museographic presentation paints a picture of pre-war societies that combine great economic modernity with representations of the world and of war that are still those of the 19C.
Room II: “From the start of the war to the Battle of the Somme (1914-1916)” Uniforms and weapons are presented in pits cut into the floor symbolizing life in the trenches. The back is evoked in the windows where newspapers, objects of daily life, period films illustrate the major themes of societies at war. The whole of this room also reminds us that the war was immediately global due to troops from all over the world and in particular from the colonies.
Room III: “From the Battle of the Somme to the Armistice, the ‘totalization’ of the war (1917-1918)” This room illustrates total war: the display cases reveal the psychological and economic mobilization of the civilian population in the war effort. The curved line of the furniture is a translation of the slow progression of time and the acceleration towards the German defeat and the Armistice. The pits show the soldier’s vulnerability in the face of tremendous efforts to develop new technologies of warfare.
Room IV: “After the War, the Consequences of the Conflict” This room deals with the complexity of the end of the war and its multiple effects in the short and long term, as well as private and official commemoration. The political and economic difficulties of the Germany of the Weimar Republic, the political threats related to its defeat, as well as the local reconstruction are recalled within the framework of the difficult return to peace, but also the attempts to find alternatives to the war.
The Documentation Center of the Historial de la Grande Guerre gives everyone access to the archives, photographs, postcards, books, brochures, bound press volumes, and to the collections database. The self-service books cover the military, political and cultural history of the period 1900-1930. Free access to temporary exhibitions held each year. They allow visitors to discover specific and original themes on the Great War, both historical, literary and artistic. Awesome!!!
The official Historial de la Grande Guerre of Peronne : https://www.historial.fr/en/
The Somme dept 80 tourist office on museums of the Great War or WWI : https://www.visit-somme.com/great-war/museums-tell-tales-great-war
The City of Peronne on its history :https://ville-peronne.fr/fr/rb/924757/lhistoire-de-peronne
There you go folks, a dandy wonderful educational museum on things we need to know. We passed by the area on our trips to visit family in the Nord so it makes it easy but if you are in Paris you should make the effort to come here, after all France is a mouvable feast! Again, hope you enjoy the Historial de la Grande Guerre museum of Péronne as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 