Having undergone serve damage during the war, Ypres had to be totally rebuilt. With both German and Allied troops having fought fiercely in the Ypres Salient (a salient is the area that extends into enemy territory and surrounded on three sides) many lives where lost, and now a number of good museums and memorials have been built.
Ypres also became famous for being the place where the Germans used poison gas as a weapon for the first time on the Western Front during the Second Battle of Ypres (22nd April - 25 May 1915).
After the war Ypres was rebuilt using the reparations paid by the Germans with the main square, Cloth Hall and the town hall all being restored to their original state. Cloth Hall is now home to the In Flanders Museum which illustrates Ypres role in the First World War.