ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author explores an under-investigated aspect of surge in battlefield tourism, the way tourists utilize their senses in the way they seek to understand the Western Front. Along the Western Front the history and material legacy of the war is presented to the public through a variety of forms of heritage interpretation. The use of sound to accompany textual display has been interpreted very differently in the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne. Café-museums are privately run enterprises providing refreshments in an unusual environment where material legacy of war is displayed in close proximity to customers. Interpretation of objects is not the priority of these cafés and there is seldom adequate explanation of items on display. The senses play a role also in tourist engagement with the landscape of the Western Front. Gustation has great potentialities in enhancing our understanding of the past but has been under-utilized in heritage interpretation principally for health and safety reasons.