Landmarks Tournai
A walk through the streets of the city can take several hours, during which we will get to know beautiful churches, the oldest Romanesque tenement houses, the 13th-century bridge over the Scheldt River and many other beautiful monuments and monuments. After visiting the two biggest attractions of Tournai, which are undoubtedly inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady and the belfry, it is worth staying in the main square of the old town. Here you can see the interesting church of Saint Quentin and the cloth hall.
Church of St. Quentin
The nave of this church, built in the Romanesque style, dates back to the end of the 12th century. The transept and presbytery, with a diagonal rib vault, are an example of the transition from the Romanesque to the Gothic style. The chancel is surrounded by 17th-century marble balustrades. The central tower was built in the 13th century. Originally, this tower was decorated with a double triforium (in Romanesque and Gothic buildings a window or a slide separated by columns into three parts and closed with a triple arcade), but during the Second World War it was destroyed by German bombing. It was rebuilt in a slightly changed shape.
Two round chapels are located in the angles formed at the junction of the nave and transept. One of them houses the tomb of Jaques Castaigne, who died in 1327. The second is where Pasquier Grenier, who contributed to the restoration of the tapestries in Tournai, is buried. The organ in the church was made by Delmotte in 1986.
Cloth Hall
This building on the market square was built in the 13th century of wood. However, after it was completely destroyed in 1606, it was rebuilt in 1610-1611 from stone. Different styles are combined here. The ground floor of the façade, decorated with triangular arches, is pure Gothic, the first floor is renaissance, and the top is baroque. The courtyard with internal galleries was built in 1616, similar to the Italian courtyards. Like most of the buildings on the square, the cloth hall also suffered from bombing in 1940. The facade of the building was renovated in 1998. Exhibitions and important events are held here today.
Behind the church of St. Quentin on Rue Perdue street we can find two attractions:
The first is a statue of a girl named Martine with a dog. They are comic characters, very popular in Belgium in the 60 years. It was drawn by two Belgian cartoonists, Marcel Marlier and Gilbert Delahaye.
The other is the Red Fort, a medieval building named after the color of the roof. It was built at the end of the 13th century from limestone. It has three levels, one of which has a projection room where you can watch a 10-minute movie in the shadow of the ramparts. The fort has a diameter of 12 meters. In 2003 it was restored.
The first is a statue of a girl named Martine with a dog. They are comic characters, very popular in Belgium in the 60 years. It was drawn by two Belgian cartoonists, Marcel Marlier and Gilbert Delahaye.
The other is the Red Fort, a medieval building named after the color of the roof. It was built at the end of the 13th century from limestone. It has three levels, one of which has a projection room where you can watch a 10-minute movie in the shadow of the ramparts. The fort has a diameter of 12 meters. In 2003 it was restored.
Church of St. Jacob
Located on Rue Palais Saint-Jacques, the temple was built in 1167. The central nave, side aisles and the transept come from the first half of the 13th century. They are an example of a typical Gothic style. In 1368, the chancel was expanded, adding two side chapels. The chapel's ceiling on the right is decorated with paintings of angels playing instruments. They were painted in 1405, and in 1895 restored by the painter Jules Helbig. In the presbytery there is a lectern with the figure of an eagle from 1411. It is one of the few works of art that managed to survive an iconoclast attack on the church in 1566.
Tournai Central Station
The building is located on Place Crombez. It was built in 1879. The plans were created by architect Henri Beyaert. The King of Belgium, Leopold I, appeared at the official opening ceremony of the station. The glass roof of the station, which is 118 meters long, was destroyed during the bombing of the city during World War II.
Pont des Trous
On the waterfront of Andrei Sakharov (Quai Andrei Sakharov) there is a magnificent 13th-century stone bridge. Pont des Trous, because that is its name, it is one of the three military river bridges that exist today. It is one of the most prestigious traces of medieval defensive architecture in Belgium. He was part of the so-called second defensive walls, which included 18 gates. Its task was to defend the passage to Tournai from the Scheldt River. The construction of the bridge took about 50 years. The Bourdiel Tower, standing on the left bank, dates from 1281. The Thieulerie tower on the right was built in 1304 years. It took another 25 years to pick up the bows. Today, barges and boats pass under the bridge.
Tenement houses from the 13th century
There are two magnificent Romanesque buildings on Barre Saint Brice. They were built in the years 1175-1200. The windows are formed by two horizontal rows of stones, supported by a monolithic column. They are prototypes of Flemish stone architecture and are among the oldest residential buildings of this type in Europe. Next to it there is a tenement house in the style of Louis XIV.
There is also a Gothic building from the 15th century on the same street. The tenement house uses architectural patterns that were still used in houses in the Romanesque style. Other Gothic buildings can be found on Rue des Jesuites. They come from the 13th century.