STARTING POINT

New visitor’s centre to open at Vimy Ridge.

A new centre that explores Canada’s role in the First World War opens at Vimy Ridge, France, on April 9, 2017 — exactly one hundred years after the famous battle.

The centre will include artifacts, letters from soldiers and their families, interpretive texts, and projections of historical images. One wall of the building will incorporate a panoramic window overlooking the trenches and craters of the battlefield.

The centre will also tell the story of the Vimy Memorial, created by Canadian sculptor Walter Allward.

“It’s a starting point to what we hope will be a two- to three-hour experience on-site,” said Jeremy Diamond, executive director of the Vimy Foundation.

“You’ll be prepared to go into the tunnels — they have trenches on-site as well — and then a short walk over to the monument to read the names of those that died in the First World War with no known grave in France.”

The Vimy Foundation promotes public awareness of Canada's Great War history and was instrumental in the centre's creation. As many as fifty thousand people are expected to attend the one hundredth-anniversary ceremony at Vimy Ridge.