With its unique collection and outstanding audiovisual displays, the Memorial immerses visitors in the battle. You will experience something close to what the French and German soldiers were faced with on the Verdun Battlefield. A visit to the Memorial is your gateway to the battlefield and its sites. Allow at least an hour and a half for your visit.
The different areas
True to the vision of the founders, the 1916 battlefield experience remains at the heart of the Memorial. Set in a glass cage, overlapping screens offer 100 square metres of images. The brand-new audiovisual show projected on them conveys the violence of the battle and the ground shakes as the shells rain down. The show brings together archive images and the art through which the soldiers expressed their experiences. All around the audiovisual exhibit, in cases of rough-hewn timber, are day-to-day objects used by the troops, modest and fragile evidence of their presence.
They bring us a different vision of the battle, of the soldiers as people. Further on, with the roar of motors and archive images, the lorries and guns advancing along the Voie Sacrée ("Sacred Way") show the logistics that were involved in the colossal battle.
At the end of this first level, visitors enter a small space, tucked under the battlefield screens. This is where you gain an idea of what it was like to be a soldier, sheltering in a shell hole on the battle’s front line.
The first floor explores the battle environment. Who commanded the battle? What was life like behind the French and German front lines? What role did aircraft play in this, history’s first air battle? There is also an opportunity to peep over the shoulder of a soldier on leave. The last section of the visit is dedicated to the heroic work of the medical staff. The tour ends in the original entrance hall, with a display on the history of the Memorial.
The top floor is bathed in light and offers views over the surrounding area. Visitors can step out onto the terraces and view the landscape. Multi-media kiosks tell the story of the battlefield. Using modern aerial images, they point out the scars left by the war, concealed today by the forest. Virtual reality headsets offer visitors a different viewpoint on the battlefield, before, during and after the fighting. This floor also houses the temporary exhibitions space, as well as a documentation centre, open by appointment.
