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We've compiled the best of the best in Bastogne - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Also known informally as "Le Mess," this museum in the former Belgian army's officers' mess contains dioramas based on actual photos that depict the lives of U.S. 101st Airborne Division troops as they defended the town in 1944. Make sure you take time to check out the "bomb shelter" in the basement: a very loud and very immersive surround-sound reenactment of an air raid—a definite eye-opener, even though there is no actual danger involved.
This former Belgian army barracks dating from 1936 is where, on December 22, 1944, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, Commander of the 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, uttered the immortal word "Nuts!" in response to a German call for his surrender. Today, the war rooms mostly house an extensive collection of military uniforms and other artifacts from the period, as well as re-creating key scenes from the Battle of the Bulge, including McAuliffe's iconic moment.
Standing solemnly beside the Bastogne War Museum, this huge star-shape memorial honors the Americans lost in the Battle of the Bulge. The names of all U.S. Army units and the history of the battle are inscribed on the wall, along with a simple phrase in Latin: “The Belgian people remember their American liberators.” Mosaics by Fernand Léger decorate the crypt’s Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish chapels. From the top of the memorial you have a magnificent view of the former battlegrounds. The memorial is open all year.
