Museum of Military History

What is this museum about ?

The War Museum 14/18 and 40/45 and Civic Guard (the "Battle of Mons", August 1914) is namely about the liberations of the town in November 1918 and September 1944.

The museum is managed by the Municipality of Mons.

Historical context

The Building

The monumental Museum entrance, along with the gilded lead dove symbolising the Holy Ghost ornamenting the ironwork of the railing of the first floor window, is all that remains of the "Hospice du Saint-Esprit" which was established in 1862 on the site of the old townhouse of the lords of Hyon.

The "Hospice du Saint-Esprit" took in abandoned children, who were brought up at the expense of the Grande Aumône under the supervision of the burgomasters. In 1795, the Civil Hospices Commission -the successor to the Grande Aumône- took over the running of the Hospice which, in 1803, had around 220 inmates.

In 1884, the building was bought by Antoine Fontaine. Later it became a commercial centre.

The Military History Museum of Mons

Mons was first fortified in the 13th century and remained a garrison town until the mid 1950s, and has a complicated, intense military history, a sage of siege, destruction and occupation...

The military history collections of the City of Mons, which were first shown to the public on the occasion of the Centenary of Belgium, in 1930, then consisted essentially of objects and documents relating to the Mons Civic Guard (1830-1914) -lithographs, uniforms or uniform items, headwear, weapons, items of equipment- and official souvenirs of the 1914-18 war, in particular the Battle of Mons of 23rd and 24th August 1914, with the famous legend of the Angels of Mons and the liberation of the city by Canadian troops on 10th and 11th November 1918.
These collections rapidly grew, thanks to Mr Pepin and Licoppe, who handed objects and documents they had found in the Mons neighbourhood. In addition, the British regiments who had fought at Mons donated items to the city (namely a Victoria Cross medal).

After the liberation in 1944, many second world war items, some found in the region's battlefield, other originating from the fort of Zwijndrecht, were collected, and personal souvenirs were contributed by private individuals.

Nowadays the museum covers the whole military history of the city. So in addition to the Mons experience of the last two world wars, the museum has also the sieges of 1572 and 1691, the various town fortifications, as well as the Mons Civic Guard..

Mons, a fortified town for six centuries

The city of Mons was surrounded by fortifications from 1290 to 1865.

The town's high medieval walls, which lasted until 1816, were built of brick and stone, backed by earth embankments. These ramparts, flanked by towers, formed the link between the gates.
There were five of these, with powerful round or semi-circular towers, drawbridges, portcullises and solid doors that were closed every evening. The Nimy gate lays on the route to Brussels and Ath; the Havré gate to Binche and Chimay; the Bertaimont to Maubeuge, the Rivage to the Borinage and Valenciennes, and the Parc gate to Tournai.
The "La Trouille" river which ran through the town came in through the Guérite water gate and left through the Rivage water gate, twinned with the Road gate.

The medieval fortifications were strengthened over the centuries by several different bastion defence systems in front of the ditches: Spanish in the 16th century, French with Vauban in the 17th century, Austrian in the 18th century and finally Duch in the 19th century.

The 14-18 War

The First World War, 1914-18, is amply represented by two battles which took place in Mons.

The first of these was on 23rd and 24th August 1914, led by the British troops, in the first military engagement on the continent since Waterloo. For 48 hours, a mere 70,000 soldiers from the Empire held back 200,000 Germans marching on Paris.
The famous episode of the "Angels of Mons" took place on the night of 23rd and 24th August, and is still famed in English-speaking countries.

The other was on 10th and 11th November 1918, when Canadian troops liberated Mons on Armistice day itself; in fact, the last shot of the first world war was fired in Mons.

The Civic Guard

The Civic Guard was instituted on 26th November 1830 by the Provisional Government, and until the end of the First World War was really a townspeople's militia, serving towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

The picturesque appearance of this paramiliatry body always made a fine showing in parades and ceremonies.

The main responsibilities of the Civic Guard were upholding law and order and assisting the nation's army in internal operations. This was why it played an important part in the social troubles at the end of the 19th century, taking the side of its employer, in other words the bourgeoisie of the towns.

The 1940-45 War

While the 1914-18 section illustrates the part played in Mons by the British armies, the displays dedicated to the 40-45 war recall above all the great victory -known as "Mons"- of 2nd, 3rd and 4th September 1944 won by American divisions assisted by the local Resistance.

Mons was in fact the first major town in Belgium to be liberated by the Allies; the first tanks entered the city at around 18.30 PM on 2nd September.

The collection is made up of many photographs of the liberation of Mons and documents and witness accounts relating to it, plus weapons and uniforms of the combatants and various items from everyday's life under the occupation. So this collection illustrates the various aspects of this conflict: invasion, occupation, resistance and above all, liberation.

The official website of the Museum stands here.

The tourism information center can be contacted there.

Location

Museum address:
Rue de Houdain 13
7000 MONS
Phone nr (Tourism Information Centre): +32 (0) 65 33 52 13
Phone nr (Museum): +32 (0) 65 31 89 76

Open from Tuesday to Sunday from 12.00 to 18.00.
Open on Sunday from 10.00 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 18.00

Entrance fee is 1,25 € and free toilets are present.

You can come by train, stop at Mons station and then use the bus shuttle, chose circuit A and stop at "rue de Houdain".
At the same stop you can visit the "Earth and Material" Museum located in the Engineering Institute ("Faculté Polytechnique") housed in a building dating the 18th century.

Personal note

A pass gives you access to 4 major museums of this lovely cobbled street baroque city: Museum of Folklore and Customs of Mons, Museum of Military History (The first and last Bristish soldiers died in Mons during the WWI), the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museum of the Count's Castle and its St Caliste Chappel – Mons Tourist Office, Grand'Place 2 in 7000 Mons.
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If you visit the museum with students you can ask them a few questions in order to know if they learnt something such as:
Who were the "Angels of Mons" ?;
Who among the three Marshall of France depicted in the Museum never followed military studies ?;
Who among the three Marshall of France depicted in the Museum was sent in USA to convince America to enter the war ?;
Who offered the Victoria Cross medal displayed in the museum ?;
Who liberated Mons in 1918, who did it in 1944 ?

This is a small museum, do not expect exhibition of aircrafts or tanks, however those willing to learn something about the Past of Mons city will discover noticeable information.