On 9th April 2017, representatives from several countries came together in the Arras region to commemorate the centenary of the start of the Battle of Arras.

The Battle of Arras was a British led offensive on the Western Front in April 1917. Given the extreme danger faced by soldiers in preparing this offensive, a vast underground network of tunnels below the town was used for its preparation. Traces left by the soldiers who went into battle on the morning of 9th April 1917 can still be found in the cool damp of Wellington Quarry’s underground tunnels. It’s hard to imagine the town’s state of ruin in 1918 as one strolls beneath the arches around the two main squares. Reconstruction works restored Arras’ town-hall and belfry to their original splendour, as well as the Flemish baroque-style houses around the squares. Sitting at one of the cafés on Place des Héros is the ideal way to soak in the unique architecture and atmosphere. To the North of Arras, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a peaceful site, shaped by its terrible past. Children enjoy being taken down into the preserved network of WW1 trenches, where they are welcomed by young volunteer guides from Canada, who explain the preparations for the assault launched by the Canadian forces on 9th April 1917.
 

UNESCO-listed mining basin 

Europe’s two highest slag heaps, in Loos-en Gohelle, offer a panoramic overview of the UNESCO-listed mining landscape in Nord-Pas de Calais and, in good weather, Lens (with its Bollaert-Delelis stadium and the Louvre-Lens Museum, showing works from the Paris Louvre) and even as far as Lille