The best road cycling routes around Étraye

The museum offers a good insight into soldiers' lives during World War I. Using an augmented reality helmet, visitors can travel through the underground citadel. Admission is €16 per person (as of October 2025). However, for background information, it is recommended to visit the Verdun Memorial beforehand.

The Ossuary of Douaumont is an impressive memorial that holds the remains of more than 130,000 unknown French and German soldiers who died during the Battle of Verdun (1916). The bones are visible through small windows in the base – a confronting reminder of the horrors of war. In front of the ossuary is the Nécropole nationale de Douaumont, the largest French military cemetery of the First World War, with 16,142 graves, including a Muslim and Jewish plot. The complex was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.

The gate was part of the city fortifications in the Middle Ages.

The Citadel of Verdun is a symbolic and strategic site of the Battle of Verdun, nestled in stone. It will be a visit like no other during which you will walk through the underground galleries thanks to augmented reality. This unmissable memorial site immerses us in the lives of the soldiers during the war, 16 meters under the rock. An unprecedented experience! Triggered? Click through to https://www.landofmemory.eu/nl/sites-historiques/ondergrondse-citadel/

The Myth of the First World War “In memory of the French soldiers who sleep standing, rifle in hand, in this trench – their brothers in America.” This is the inscription in front of the Memorial of the Battle of Verdun in the ghost town of Douaumont. The monument was financed by a wealthy American banker, George T. Rand, who was moved by the famous legend surrounding the site. It is said that French soldiers buried standing, with weapons in hand, died from enemy shells. Bayonet Trench is one of the myths of the First World War. In 1922, it was classified as a historical monument and in 2014 it was considered a site of national importance. After the war, excavations uncovered 21 bodies of French soldiers. Fourteen were identified and buried in the Necropolis of Fleury, opposite Douaumont. The seven other bodies that remained unknown were reburied in the "Bayonet Trench". For many, the myth persists, while others question it. Especially since no body was found standing upright. In any case, the legend of the "Bayonet Trenches" shows above all how much the Great War left an almost indelible mark on the collective imagination. As the bloody conflict of the Battle of Verdun drew to a close, glorious stories quickly emerged in which the nation sacrificed itself for the fatherland. Source: https://www.landofmemory.eu/sites-historiques/tranchee-des-baionnettes/

Official entrance to the city since its construction in the 14th century and a defensive element of the Great Wall of China that surrounded Verdun in the Middle Ages. It was offered to the city by the bourgeoisie Wautrec, a councillor. It symbolises the new status of Verdun, which became a “free imperial city” in 1374. This status obliged the city to maintain its own ramparts and to organise its defence in the event of an attack.

Official entrance to the city since its construction in the 14th century and a defensive element of the Great Fortress that surrounded Verdun in the Middle Ages. It was offered to the city by the bourgeoisie Wautrec, a councillor. It symbolises the new status of Verdun, which became a “free imperial city” in 1374. This status obliged the city to maintain its own ramparts and to organise its defence in the event of an attack. Source: Tourism Verdun

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