Historial de la Grande Guerre
A WWI museum housed in a medieval castle, presenting the Somme war and daily life through side-by-side French, British, and German perspectives.
The Historial opened in 1992 inside the medieval castle of Péronne and is considered one of Europe's finest WWI museums. Rather than arranging exhibits by battle, it displays the equipment, propaganda, letters home, and artworks of French, British, and German soldiers side by side for comparison. Uniforms laid flat in grooves in the floor symbolize fallen soldiers, and the museum holds Otto Dix's 'War' print series. Admission costs about 10 euros, and combined tickets are available with the Thiepval visitor center. It is about 50 kilometers from Amiens and reachable by train or bus; partly closed on Wednesdays in some seasons.
Opening hours
09:30–18:00 (closed Wed, Oct–Mar)
Nearby sights
- Delville Wood South African Memorial
- Lochnagar Crater
- Thiepval Memorial
- Ulster Tower
- Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
- Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux
- Hortillonnages of Amiens
- Amiens Cathedral