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WATERLOO BATTLEGROUND:
Wellington and Napoleon Memorabilia
Museums
An
otherwise pleasant little village about 25 minutes south on the outskirts
of Brussels where the city suburbs meets the
wooded Belgian countryside in Brabant-Wallon.
Waterloo wasn’t really much of a town, actually just a crossroads
of the small city of Braine-l'Alleud, until the forces of three great
powers met on a battlefield to become one of the most famous in the
European
power struggles before the modern era. Waterloo is where the Emperor
Napoleon met the Duke of Wellington, leading combined English and Dutch
forces,
and Prussia’s General Blücher in the decisive battle of
June 18, 1815, which ended for the last time Bonaparte’s grasp
for power after his return from exile on the Isle of Elba - the “100
days”.
The
actual battle was in the nearby village of Mont Saint-Jean but Wellington’s
announcement of Napoleon’s defeat was dispatched from the
British General’s headquarters in Waterloo, so the battle
got the name we know. The location of the actual decisive battlefield
is about
5 kilometers south of Waterloo and commemorated by an earthen mound
with
a monument
known as the Lion's Mound (Butte du Lion). The mound was built
by the citizens of the town after the battle, one basket of dirt
at a
time
and took two years. It costs 1 Euro to climb to the top on the
mound.
Today,
Waterloo is a village of restaurants and taverns, memorabilia shops
and several museums of the famous battle representing
its participants. Wellington’s headquarters in a former
roadhouse hotel in town is now the Wellington Museum with articles
of the generals stay,
images, uniforms, documents and dioramas
of
the battle.
The official Visitors Center has an audio-visual
program explaining the events of the battle and information
about the surrounding
area.
The Napolean Museum, also referred to as the Caillou Museum is located in a farm house that served as Napoleon’s last headquarters after his shifting positions during the lead up to the final decisive battles which could have gone either way and indeed, Napoleon appeared to be winning early on. The Museum has a panoramic painting of the battle painted in 1912. Another more recent panorama of the battle is located near the visitors center. The Wax Museum near the Lion monument has wax figures of the leading characters in the battle along with documents, engravings and artifacts.
Two farms where some of the heaviest fighting took place can also be visited to stand on bloody battle earth. The Hougoumont manor farm where British Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell held out against the French for nine hours and the Haie Sainte farm which was a fortified position of the German Legion and Dutch Nassau troops under the British resisted all day suffering almost 90% casualties until they could no longer stand.
The museums are mostly private operations and all have modest admission fees ranging to 2 to 5 Euro. That can add up a bit if you want to see all of them, but you can get a "Pass 1815" from the tourism bureau for 6 museums. They are located primarily along the road from Brussels to Charleroi (Chaussée de Charleroi). Without a car, Waterloo can be reached by bus from Brussels' south rail station Gare du Midi and takes about 40 minutes. Waterloo can also be reached by train from Brussels or Charleroi but the station is on the far side of town and requires a bus or taxi to get to the various attractions. © Bargain Travel Europe
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SEE ALSO:
EUROSTAR
LONDON / PARIS
FORBIDDEN
MONTE-CARLO
Napoleon Memorabilia Museum
A
SAINT, A CHANTEUSE AND AN EMPEROR
Chatillon-Sur-Seine, Burgundy
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