Curated by Antonio Besana

In the hell of war, events sometimes occur that seem to negate its essence, redeeming its evil when the minds of men, perhaps for a few moments, are willing to listen to what the heart suggests.

December 1914, Ypres (Belgium), Western Front. Five months after the war began, the fighting turned into a grueling trench warfare. Around Ypres, the fighting was continuous. On Christmas night, something unthinkable happened: a truce. It was not an agreement between the commands of the two sides: it was a spontaneous truce decided by the soldiers. On Christmas night, someone started singing traditional Christmas carols. The soldiers discovered that in the opposite trenches, even with different words, they were singing the same melodies from home. Someone proposed to stop shooting.

The enemies came out into the open and met in no man’s land. They talked, shook hands, embraced, exchanged greetings and gifts, clothes and buttons from their uniforms, food, tobacco, photos of friends and family, and mementos of peace time. On Christmas morning, they buried the dead with a funeral service. An event of such proportions never happened again in history.

On the 110th anniversary of the 1914 Christmas Truce, the exhibition with an immersive approach tries to recreate the trench environment, providing testimonies from the protagonists and extensive photographic documentation resulting from a long research and a trip to the locations of this unique event.