In the seaside resort of Ostend (West Flanders) the archaeological site Walraversyde Anno 1465 has opened at the Atlantikwall Raversyde provincial park after major refurbishments. Walraversyde was a fishing village that reached its peak in the 15th century. A 3D exhibition shows you what the village actually looked like.
“The new permanent exhibition tells the story of the vanished fishing village,” explains director Mathieu de Meyer. “You can see a selection of the many archaeological finds, organised into themes such as fishing, cooking and eating, cultural life, religion and conflict.”
“But there is also a 3D reconstruction of the village, which took us two years to complete. It shows what the site actually looked like in the past. Interactive games round off the experience. In the future, we also want to expand the village’s story into an outdoor exhibition, but that won’t be ready until 2028.”
New storage facility with 30,000 items
Alongside the exhibition, a new storage facility and knowledge centre are also opening. “The storage facility will house a collection of around 30,000 items from the First and Second World Wars, from the Middle Ages and from Prince Karel’s collection,” says De Meyer. Prince Karel was King Filip’s great-uncle and Regent of Belgium during the royal crisis of 1944-50. He lived in a cottage that can still be visited at what is now the provincial park.
“The depot was built according to a Danish model: humidity is controlled, but the temperature follows the outside environment via the ground.”
The new knowledge centre will eventually also house a library for researchers. “It will be a great asset for researchers who in future come here to study the documents. However, it will take around 5 to 6 years for all the documents to be moved to this new repository.”