Help preserve the Musée Somme 1916
ANZAC Day, the 25th of April, is a day where Aussies and Kiwis remember the sacrifices made during times of war. Dawn service commemorations are held around the country and at memorials across the globe. This year, lock-downs due to the COVID-19 pandemic have had a huge impact on the way 2020’s commemorations and also on the places we visit to remember. Memorials, museums and local businesses have been forced to close their doors to the public and for some, who rely on the patronage of tourists making the pilgrimage to the sites where their forebears fought, the impact may be fatal.
This morning, whilst checking Facebook I stumbled across a cry for help from the non-profit Musée Somme 1916 in the French town of Albert, approximately 7km southwest of Pozieres, in the Somme region. Albert would be familiar to thousands of Australians who have made the pilgrimage to the battlefields of the Western Front and many may have visited the museum which is located in the tunnels under the Basilica of Note-Dame de Brebieres.
The Basilica was home to the famous leaning Golden Virgin statue of Mary and the infant Jesus which was hit by a German shell in 1915 and knocked to a near horizontal position. A number of legends developed among the thousands of soldiers who passed through Albert around the ‘Leaning Virgin’ including the myth that whichever side caused the statue to fall, would lose the war. It was eventually knocked down and destroyed by allied shells in April 1918 after the Germans recaptured the town during their Spring Offensive. After the war, the Basilica was faithfully rebuilt according to its original design, complete with a replica of the statue.
The Musée Somme 1916’s entry, which is on the side of the Basilica, takes visitors down into tunnels that were first built in the 13th century, before being converted to an air raid shelter in 1938 and then finally the current museum in 1992. Its tunnels and dozen alcoves stretch for 250m and provide visitors with an overview of what life was like for soldiers during the July 1916 offensive. The photographs of the museum that you see here were taken during a pilgrimage that I made to the battlefields of the Somme in 2015. The trip was a humbling and moving experience, made even more poignant by places such as the Musée Somme 1916 which contextualise the sacrifices that were made by all sides during that terrible period in history. If you are able, I encourage you to give the museum whatever support you can, to help preserve the history for future generations.
The museum’s crowd funding page can be found here and you can find them on Facebook here.
Lest We Forget!
Musée Somme 1916
Rue Anicet Godin
80300 Albert
France
Phone: +33 (0)3 22751617
Email: musee@somme1916.org
Website: www.musee-somme-1916.eu
Open: The Musée Somme 1916 is usually open everyday 09:00 until 18:00 (last entry at 17:30). However due to the COVID-19 pandemic it is temporarily closed until further notice.
Entry Fees:
Adults – 7.00 €
Children 6 to 18 years old – 4.00 €
Children under 6 years old – Free
Veterans – 5.00 €
Disabled – 6.00 €
Adult groups (10 pax or more) – 6.00 €
Guided tour (25 pax maximum) – 50.00 €
