Wētā to open blockbuster Le Quesnoy exhibition in France. Video / Anthem
Anzac celebrations are taking place in the French town of Le Quesnoy next week, but Wētā Workshop’s planned blockbuster exhibition has been delayed.
“New Zealand Liberation Museum – Te Arawhata / The Ladder” is a $15 million museum being built in the town. At the site of one of the final actions of World War I involving New Zealanders, the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust (NZMMT) partnered with Wētā to deliver a “tūrangawaewae” for Kiwis visiting WWI’s battlefields in Europe. Originally hoped to open in time for Anzac commemorations, Te Arawhata will now be opening later this year.
Whether it be “Over by Christmas” or “Ready for Anzac Day”, there is something about the battlefields of France which resists deadlines. Particularly the French mansion which the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust bought in 2017, as a permanent monument for the New Zealand Division in France.
“It needn’t be said, anyone who does up an old building should be prepared for delays,” says NZMMT chairman Sir Don McKinnon.
Complexities of a pandemic, construction pipelines and working in a heritage building, dating to before the war, were all complicating factors. This has led to the exhibition missing its original “phased opening” planned for April 25, Anzac Day, 2023.
Le Quesnoy: Wētā Workshop's senior creative director, Andrew Thomas, says visitors can expect a mix of cinema, sculpture and archival experiences. Photo / NZMMT
However, McKinnon says the ground floor of the 1890s building, off of Rue de La Nouvelle-Zelande, was being completed “to satisfaction and on budget”, with the exhibition team ready to take over next month.
Te Arawhata is now expected to open on October 11.
The grand opening will be perfectly timed for the group stages of the Webb Ellis Cup and the arrival of thousands of rugby fans to France.
“Our new opening date should be just at the end of the pool stages for the Rugby World Cup,” says McKinnon.
While a lot is riding on the All Blacks, a shock exit might be the best thing for the museum, as thousands of New Zealanders find time for soul-searching and looking for historic connections in France.
Work on the mansion housing the exhibition has forced delays on Wētā and Te Arawhata. Photo / NZMMT
Between this sporting event and the Paris Olympics in summer 2024, the influx of tourists will help Te Arawhata and the town of Le Quesnoy. However, the town is well located on the traditional Western Front tourist route.
“It’s on part of the well-known World War I tour route but Le Quesnoy was never part of that,” says McKinnon.
Just two-and-a-half hours out of Paris by rail, near Lille, it’s on the line between Paris and Belgium.
The exhibition will be a stand-out addition to the other national museums in the region.
Wētā is keeping a lid on most details but some images have been shared ahead of Anzac Day.
“They’re keeping a lot secret but those that have seen what Wētā have done in Te Papa and the Dominion Museum will have an idea what to expect,” says McKinnon.
“For Richard Taylor to have come along after doing Gallipoli and the start of the war, you can see the appeal of Le Quesnoy. It’s the perfect bookend for telling New Zealand’s story.”
Le Quesnoy: A hundred years ago the memorial to the New Zealand Division was unveiled, at the site of their final battle in World War I. Photo / NZMMT
Inside The New Zealand Liberation Museum – Te Arawhata with Wētā Workshop
A hundred years ago the memorial to the New Zealand Division was unveiled, at the site of their final battle in World War I.
The New Zealanders took the walled city of Le Quesnoy in the final week of the war. In places they climbed the 10-metre-tall fortifications using only a wooden ladder.
Last year it was announced Le Quesnoy would be the site of a new exhibition by the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust, to be delivered by the Wellington-based special effects company Wētā Workshop.
The prop makers, who are best known for their work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, produced Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War at the museum of Te Papa Tongarewa for the WWI centenary commemorations. Featuring giant, hyper-realistic models of Anzac soldiers, the exhibition has attracted 3.5 million visitors since opening in 2015.
The partnership on Le Quesnoy was seen as a perfect opportunity to tell another chapter in the experiences of the New Zealand Army Corps, at the end of the war.
Wētā Workshop senior creative director Andrew Thomas says visitors can expect a mix of cinema, sculpture and archival experiences.
Te Arawhata, Le Quesnoy: Wētā Workshop says visitors can expect a mix of cinema, sculpture and archival experiences at the WWI exhibition. Photo / Supplied, Le Quesnoy
“Playing with scale allows visitors to get up close to the hyper-realistic soldier, placing them in that significant moment which took place over 100 years ago,” says Thomas.
The exhibition team have worked with imagery taken at the time, by war photographer Henry Armytage Sanders as well as other accounts of the battle on November 4, 1918.
One particular image that has been recreated using this technique is from a photo taken immediately after the liberation.
“The soldier sits on the cobbles, his rifle placed alongside him. There are autumn flowers in full colour, placed in his uniform by the French civilians,” says Thomas.
“It is as if you have stepped back in time.”
The Ladder: New Zealand Liberation Museum – Te Arawhata will open in October. Photo / NZMMT; Archives New Zealand
The ladder that was used to scale the walls features prominently as a motif, particularly in a poutama-inspired sculpture in the grounds of the museum.
The trust said it was two-thirds of the way to its $15 million target, thanks to significant contributions from New Zealand.
This month the Waikato Herald reported that officials from New Zealand including the mayor of Waipā would be attending the opening ceremony in October. The Waipā District Council had donated $150,000 towards the project in Le Quesnoy, which is twinned with the Waipa town of Cambridge.
