witnessing victims

On a high, grey beacon the List of Names is projected, an inclusive and undivided register of all victims of the First World War in Belgium. Every day the list mentions the names of those who lost their lives on the date of your visit.

Inside this beacon, as well as in three beacons further on in the museum, you can see images of victims. These images are poignant but very real: they show nothing but the impact of war on man.

Beyond the delusion of the daily projection, a kiosk makes the List of Names consultable in its entirety. Of the tens of thousands of victims who never received a known grave, only their names can count today as a sign of their existence.

Because the List holds names of people born in more than 100 countries, this death register is shared as a legacy with a global audience, in the museum, but also online with the whole world.

THE LIST OF NAMES

A beautiful bookcase contains Ireland's Memorial Records, eight volumes with more than 49,000 names of Irish victims. In the midst of the deep division between north and south, the 1922 publication was meant to show that the Irish participation in the First World War mad the island an integral part of the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, civil war overruled all political debate.

Yet today the Records continue to symbolise unity and community. Irish people of very different backgrounds and allegiances discover in these books that they do share a common past indeed.

Irish memorial Records