War and industrial relics in West Flanders

A skull and crossbones adorn the mossy grave of Antoine Michel Wemaer, a merchant buried here in 1837.

A century after the construction of the Waggelwater Bridge, a railway bridge over the Bruges-Ostend canal, a new railway bridge was commissioned in 2009, and trains no longer crossed the monumental Waggelwater Bridge.

The Belgian city of Bruges developed into an economic powerhouse from the 11th century onwards, thanks to its Medieval Flemish cloth industry and its international port.

In the early 20th century, between the railway line Ghent-Bruges and the Ghent-Ostend canal, 'La Brugeoise & Nivelles' rose from the ground, a famous railway equipment manufacturer.

The former Delhaize brush factory is one of Bruges' most striking and best-preserved industrial heritage sites.

Two and a half centuries ago, on 13 February 1787, the first burial took place in Bruges' Central Cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

A severe storm lashed Belgium on Monday, 29 November 1897. Over a length of hundreds of metres, the sea dyke was washed away in the sea town Middelkerke. A drinking water reservoir did not remain unscathed either.

During the First Battle of Ypres, on 1 November 1914 to be precise, Bavarian troops succeeded in capturing the West Flanders village of Wijtschate and the Croonaert Forest.

The Battle of the Polygoon Forest took place in Zonnebeke from September 26 to 27, 1917. Australian and New Zealand soldiers eliminated the German bunkers and fortifications one by one.

In early May 1915, Canadian doctor and poet John McCrae wrote the world-famous poem 'In Flanders Fields' from a medical aid station a stone's throw from Ypres.