The building where the exhibition will be shown. Photo: Supplied
Weta Workshop will use experience gained from its Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa to tell the story of the New Zealand liberation of the French town of Le Quesnoy on 4 November, 1918.
The exhibition, in Le Quesnoy, will feature in this country's first memorial museum in Europe for New Zealand soldiers who died in World War I.
A concept drawing of the museum at Le Quesnoy. Photo: Supplied
The New Zealand Liberation Museum - Te Arawhata, meaning the ladder, commemorates the way the New Zealanders used a ladder to scale the walls of the town and liberate the local people from their German captors.
It will open on 11 October, 2023 in a renovated mansion house - it was the former mayoral residence and later became the headquarters of the local gendarmerie.
The New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust purchased the building in 2017 and has been renovating it over the past two years.
Museum trust board chair Sir Don McKinnon said Weta Workshop will help convey the New Zealand story on the Western Front and what happened at Le Quesnoy.
Weta Workshop senior creative director Andrew Thomas said it aimed to create an immersive storytelling experience to highlight the human stories behind the liberation.
''Visitors will experience a mix of cinematic, sensory and emotive environments. They will be able to immerse themselves in the dramatic storytelling, sculptural artworks, soundscapes and projections to connect on an emotional lever and remember the people involved in what is a hugely significant event.''
Weta Workshop has created a giant soldier similar to the figures in its exhibition, Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War, at Te Papa.
McKinnon said the name Te Arawhata also refers to a pathway to higher things, which enables learning from the past to be used to reflect on the price and value of freedom and the importance of friendship to support a better future.
He said allied nations such as Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and the United States built commemorative museums in Europe after World War I, but New Zealand had never done so.
The New Zealand Liberation Museum Trust, a charitable trust, has so far raised two-thirds of the $15 million cost.
McKinnon said Te Arawhata will be a milestone of national significance.
''The museum will be Aotearoa's turangawaewae on the Western Front."
He said the aim is to make the Le Quesnoy story as well-known as Gallipoli and make the museum a must-visit destination for Kiwis the same way Gallipoli is.
