Museum of the Great War Museum

Address: Meaux, Île‑de‑France (Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux)

Website: https://www.museedelagrandeguerre.eu

The Museum of the Great War (Historial) is a museum in Péronne, northern France, dedicated to the First World War and particularly to the experience on the Western Front. It presents material and documentary evidence about the conflict and its regional impact.

Exhibitions combine artifacts, documents and multimedia displays to explain military operations, civilian life and the broader social consequences of the war. Many displays focus on the Somme battlefields and on how the conflict affected local towns and landscapes.

The museum occupies historic buildings in Péronne and was developed to preserve and interpret the region’s wartime heritage and collections assembled after the war. Its holdings reflect both local recovery efforts and wider national and international collecting about 1914-1918.

Situated in the town of Péronne in the Somme department of Hauts-de-France, the museum sits within the landscape of the Somme battlefields and is a short drive from memorials, cemeteries and other First World War sites.

• Somme context: The museum interprets the Western Front and the Somme region, and it is closely connected to nearby battlefield sites and cemeteries.

• Visit early on a weekday morning in Péronne to avoid the large school and tour groups that arrive later in the day; this also makes it easier to spend quiet time with the main chronological galleries.
• The museum is housed in the Château de Péronne - allow time to see the building itself and check for temporary exhibitions or special displays, which many visitors miss when rushing straight to the core galleries.
• Combine your visit with nearby Somme battlefield sites rather than trying to see everything in one day; parking in Péronne is convenient for short drives out to the surrounding memorials.