Ypres

Ypres, Belgium

Ypres, (French), Flemish Ieper, municipality, West Flanders province (province), western Belgium. It lies along the Yperlee (Ieperlee) River, south of Ostend. Ypres became a major cloth-weaving city in the Middle Ages, and together with Brugge and Ghent it virtually controlled Flanders in the 13th century. At that time it was reputed to have a population of 80,000. An unsuccessful but devastating siege of the city by the English in 1383 during the Hundred Years’ War helped cause Ypres’s decline, however, and by the late 16th century its population had dwindled to 5,000. The town was frequently besieged by the French in the 17th century.

Ypres was the principal town within an important salient, or bulge, in the British lines on the Western Front during World War I. The Ypres salient was the site of three major battles—First Ypres (October–November 1914), Second Ypres (April–May 1915; marked by the Germans’ first use of poison gas as a weapon), and Third Ypres (also called Passchendaele; July–November 1917)—with total Allied and German casualties exceeding 850,000.

Ypres itself was completely destroyed during the fighting and was subsequently rebuilt in its original style. Its notable structures include the magnificent Cloth Hall (originally from 1214); the Cathedral of St. Martin (13th century), which contains the tomb of Cornelius Otto Jansen, bishop of Ypres and founder of Jansenism; the medieval ramparts, which were rebuilt by Sébastien de Vauban in the 17th century; the Lille Gate; and the Menin Gate, a memorial to the British soldiers who died in World War I. There are 140 cemeteries, mostly containing war graves, in the environs. Ypres is now an agricultural market centre and manufactures textiles and building materials. Pop. (2004 est.) 35,021.