Diksmuide
About this Place
Diksmuide is a small West Flemish town on the River Yser, with an attractive historic centre of cobbled streets, waterways and a handsome Grote Markt. The Sint-Niklaaskerk stands just behind the main square, while the Handzamevaart — once part of the town's working inland harbour — provides quieter waterside walks through the centre.
The town's history is inseparable from the First World War. Diksmuide stood on the Yser Front and was devastated during the fighting of 1914. Its subsequent reconstruction produced much of the traditional-looking townscape seen today.
That history also has a more complicated political legacy. The IJzertoren was originally built to commemorate Flemish soldiers who died while serving in the Belgian Army during the First World War, but became closely associated with the Flemish Movement and demands for greater autonomy. Flemish-nationalist collaboration during the Second World War made the monument increasingly controversial, and the original tower was destroyed by dynamite in 1946. Its remains survive alongside the much larger replacement tower, creating an unusual memorial landscape in which remembrance, pacifism, Flemish identity and the politics of twentieth-century Belgium remain intertwined.
Brewery: Brouwerij Verstraete
Visitor notes
Diksmuide rewards a wander rather than a complicated itinerary. The Grote Markt and nearby Sint-Niklaaskerk form the obvious centre, but the smaller streets and paths beside the Handzamevaart give the town much of its charm.
The IJzertoren stands outside the immediate centre beside the Yser and now houses the Museum aan de IJzer. Even without visiting the museum, the tower and surviving remains of its predecessor are striking reminders that the legacy of the First World War in this part of Belgium extends well beyond the battlefields.
For the Belgian Beer Glass Museum, Diksmuide also makes a convenient base for discovering some of the smaller breweries and beer stories scattered across this part of the Westhoek.