The iconic Menin Gate in Ypres is being thoroughly restored. Flanders is providing a €1.6 million grant for this purpose. The Menin Gate is the famous memorial to the nearly 55,000 British soldiers who died during World War I but were never found. The gate is almost 100 years old. It is the first time such extensive works are going to be done on it, especially on the roof and on the stone walls with the thousands of names of the missing soldiers on them.
From spring 2023, the Menin Gate in Ypres will be in scaffolding for two years.
During the works, The Last Post will also continue to resound. This will happen every evening at 8pm. "We are not interrupting the tradition and ensuring that the Last Post ceremony will be able to continue," said Benoit Mottrie, president of the Last Post Association. That organisation has been hosting the ceremony since 1927. "Although there may be some inconvenience, for Ypres and for visitors to The Last Post: we will have to move from under the gate to the bridge in front of it. We look forward to seeing the result in two years."
