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The interior architecture and the museography chosen for the five main rooms simultaneously illustrate life on the front and behind the lines. The weapons and military gear are displayed in the centre of the rooms: placed in shallow pits on the floor, the common suffering of the combatants is emphasized.
The civilians, who were equally mobilized by the war effort, are evoked in the show cases, divided into three levels, devoted respectively to Germany, France, and Great Britain.
The Historial offers an international view of a conflict that was the first to involve so many civilian populations. The presentation of the collection, more orientated to social than military history, is centred around the individual's experience. It encourages constant comparisons among the different belligerent countries while making a clear distinction between life on the front and behind the lines.
On the front and behind the lines
 Around the edges of the exhibition spaces, three-tiered wall cases are devoted to the civil populations of France, Germany and Great Britain. Reflecting the attitudes and mentalities of the different belligerents, this presentation allows a comparative reading of objects from daily life, imbued at once with patriotic faith and with the omnipresence of death.
The centre of the rooms is devoted to life on the front, the central focus of warring peoples. The soldiers of different nationalities are represented by mannequins dressed in their uniforms, with their weapons and personal belongings. These bodies, lying in pits of white marble embedded in the museum floor, evoke the trenches that filled the entire area of the Somme, but also the shared suffering of the combatants.
The display system of the pits also serves to bring out the extraordinary resourcefulness of these men on the front. Objects linked to the handicrafts of the trenches - musical instruments or decorative items made from weapons parts - rise up from the pits, marking a desperate attempt to preserve individual identity in the face of the anonymity of the uniform and of death.
An open-ended visit
 Trilingual signage, video monitors and historical and geographical maps allow visitors to orientate themselves throughout the itinerary, which has deliberately been left open. Making their way between the walls and the centre of the galleries, the visitors determine the order of their own visit.
Some 60 video monitors present silent archival film footage documenting life on the front and behind the lines. They bring to life the objects displayed, and permit a more intimate relationship between visitor and image.
The exhibition design was realized by Repérages Architectures.
www.reperages.com.
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