Military History Museum - Tournai

This former neoclassical mansion dates from the first half of the 19th century and is now the Royal Museum of Armaments and Military History.

The museum invites visitors to discover the long history of Tournai , its fortifications, the many sieges of the city by Edward III, Henry VIII, Charles-Quint, Louis XIV, the Duke of Malborough, Louis XV and the famous Battle of Fontenoy .

In 1930, the city of Tournai decided to create a museum dedicated to its rich military past and the memory of the Great War. This became the Musée d'Armes , within the walls of the Henry VIII Tower . For 70 years the museum would be linked to this venerable building, the "Grosse Tour" as the people of Tournai call it. The collections are based on the model of the Museum of Ancient Weapons in the Halle Gate in Brussels. In the park, on the edge, is an impressive collection of cannons that were taken from the enemy.

After Tournai was bombed by German aircraft in May 1940 , the museum was plundered!

When peace had returned, the collections were slowly rebuilt, thanks to the generosity of the population and a government purchasing policy.

In 2000, the museum was transferred to a building purchased to house it during the necessary restoration work on the tower.

Since 2010, the museum has opted for a didactic approach to the objects on display and integrates them into a chronological course of the history of Tournai and the Tournai region. The museum's goal is to preserve our local heritage so that future generations can learn about it.

The extensive collections of weapons , uniforms, equipment and documents illustrate the revolutionary and imperial periods, the Dutch period and the Belgian regiments stationed in Tournai until 1914.

The two world wars are also discussed: the battle of August 24, 1914, the Allied offensive of 1918, the Battle of the Scheldt in May 1940 and the bombing of Tournai in 1940 and 1944, and the liberation in 1944.

Willem Vandenameele