The front of the Cloth Hall in Ieper can once again be admired in all its glory now that the operation to restore this façade of the building on Ieper’s market square has been completed.
The restoration started 18 months ago when first the focus was on the bell tower. All that now remains to be done is the restoration on the two sides of the building.
The Cloth Hall was built in the Gothic style in the 13th century and epitomised the wealth generated by the cloth industry that was heavily reliant on the wool trade with England. Together with Bruges, Ghent and Kortrijk Ieper was one of the four major towns of the County of Flanders in the late Middle Ages. The Cloth Hall served as a covered market and storage depot for Flemish cloth, a fabric prized across the continent of Europe and used to produce warm clothing during this draughty period. Work on the Ieper Cloth Hall concluded in 1304 making it one of Europe's largest Gothic civil buildings.
The building was completely destroyed during the First World War when the city stood at the heart of the Great War battlefields. It was rebuilt after the conflict and only completed as recently as 1967. It houses the In Flanders Fields Museum and the Yper Museum that currently hosts an exhibition on gaiety and smut in the Middle Ages.
The entire renovation project costs some 16 million euros. The City of Ieper is contributing 9 million, while the remainder comes from the heritage agency. Work should be complete in 2026.