Vrij Vaderland
Vrij Vaderland
4.5
Speciality MuseumsHistory Museums
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles31 reviews
Excellent
18
Very good
13
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thomasleroy
Tournai, Belgium78 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Part of Belgian history. Shows how the "westhoeck" fight off Germans in WW1. Belgian bravery and genius of king Albert. Bilingual display dutch / English. The museum is located in the townhall where king Albert ruled his army during WW1. Impressive premises. You can still feel the mood of time gone by.
Written March 1, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Patricia M
Skegness336 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2019
The highlight of our trip to Veurne was revisiting the museum, as it brings the past to life. Today's Grotemarkt is still recognisable in the photos of the time, as the town didn't suffer the amount of bombing of other towns.
Written October 12, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mkljrc
Gerrards Cross, UK484 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2018 • Friends
This museum came as a complete surprise to us as we did not know about it until we walked past it and went in to investigate. My It is very informative and well worth a visit. I knew nothing about Marie Curie (shamefully) - except the daffodil trade mark !! It is very detailed and informative and well worth paying to visit it
Written March 17, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

conrad57
Ieper (Ypres), Belgium1,011 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2015 • Couples
The exposition on " Free Fatherland " is situated in the former City Hall and Palace of Justice. It's focus is on King Albert of Belgium who had his headquarters here during the tragic and hectic days of the Battle of the Yser when the Belgian Army was able to block the German advance supported by the inundation of the flat countryside in the Diksmuide & Nieuwpoort area. The big room where the King and his Generals were assessing the situation and taking decisions is unchanged since and there is also the court room where a Belgian sergeant murderer of a young Veurne girl was sentenced to dead. Also Info of the free Belgian zone ( nurses, X-rays by Dr Cury, schools, military camps and the engineers in charge of the inundation ). An eye-opener on the Veurne WW1 history. Enjoy also the market square with beautiful buildings in Spanish-Flemish style and the restaurants and pubs for good food and beer. A must see for the tourist, staying in the coastal area are with enough time to escape from the Ypres and Messines WW1 history. The tourism office and the shop aside the exhibition has a lot of good quality souvenirs for sale. Different than Ieper and Nieuwpoort,, most of the historical buildings of the City of Veurne/Furnes survived the war and are still in their original state. When you walk in Veurne you will breath history.
Written November 30, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Oxalis Tours
Brussels, Belgium30 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022
For the four years of the first world war, the Flemish town of Veurne was the de facto capital of the unoccupied part of Belgium. The Vrij Vaderland experience centre tells the town's story of this period.

You learn for instance how, as well as being a destination for Belgian refugees fleeing the advancing German army, the town also became a gathering place for allied soldiers from around the world, including the French and British colonies. Marie Currie's crucial work setting up X-ray machines to examine wounded soldiers and civilians is also well documented. As is the leadership shown by the Belgian king Albert I who ensured his soldiers were not used as cannon fodder and whose only aim was to recapture his country from the occupier. And you get to see the guillotine used in March 1918 to execute a convicted murderer. A bit too gruesome that, maybe. The building where the Vrij Vaderand is located is also significant in itself, not least because it actually served for a time during WW1 as the Belgian army's headquarters. It was here that the plan was hatched to flood the polders west of the river Yser, halting the German advance west. Finally, although off-topic, the centre possesses a couple of paintings by Paul Delvaux but they are kept cordoned off in a sort of annex, so you cannot get to look at them up close, which is a shame.

Most information is provided in 4 languages (NL/FR/GER/ENG). Multimedia and QR-codes are used to good effect but there is no audioguide. The centre's entrance is currently via Veurne tourist information office on the Grote Markt.
Written February 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Patricia M
Skegness336 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2019 • Couples
We enjoyed having a bit more time to go round the museum, which is about the history of the unoccupied part of Belgium. There are photos and newsreels from the time, and one can recognise buildings in the town centre today.
Written April 2, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Patricia M
Skegness336 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2018 • Couples
We didn't know much about the history of Veurne in the First World war, and certainly left knowing a lot more. Didn't know that X ray machines were in use then, and that Veurne was temporarily the capital. Highly recommended.
Written May 19, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Katrien S
Ghent, Belgium1,982 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2017 • Solo
The museum highlights the life in the tiny part of Belgium that wasn´t occupied during the first world war. During this period Veurne acted as capital, and managed to escape relatively intact through the war. The museum is in the building in which the king had the army headquarters for a while, and which is a historical building belonging to the ambacht Veurne, or the rural area around the town. There is a small display of how the march of the Germans was stopped. Further, there is a focus on women working as nurses risking their lives behind the front line, as well as setting up child transports to safe areas; and Marie Curie who made a difference in the survival changes of patients by installing fixed and mobile X-ray machines just behind the front line.
Written August 3, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Barry C
Salisbury49 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2016 • Family
This was an interesting museum about the way the 1st world war affected Veurne. As Marie Curie had worked there running X-ray machines, there was an exhibition about her life and scientific work.

The pedant in me couldn't help but notice that the map of the world showing the belligerent powers had mainly 2016 borders. Nice to see South Ossetia and Abkhazia on a map of the world, though.
Written September 15, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Vrij Vaderland - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)