Tournai in Wallonia

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 - 01:03 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  3 minutes

Town Hall © Grentidez

Town Hall © Grentidez

Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut. Along with TongerenTongeren, Tournai is the oldest city in Belgium and it has played an important role in the country’s cultural history.

As is the case with many cities in Belgium there are a number of beautiful and friendly cafés and pubs in the Grand’Place. In the middle of the Grand’Place there are a series of water fountains that are fun to observe and even play in for people of all ages. Another great interactive experience available is climbing the circular staircase to the top of the belfry.

Tournai Cathedral and Belfry © Warburg/cc-by-sa-3.0 Séminaire de Tournai © Daniel Procureur/cc-by-sa-3.0 Grand Place © Velvet/cc-by-sa-3.0 Cloth hall © LimoWreck/cc-by-sa-3.0 Art Nouveau house © Lordelicht/cc-by-sa-3.0 Town Hall © Grentidez
<
>
Séminaire de Tournai © Daniel Procureur/cc-by-sa-3.0
Tournai is considered to be one of the most important cultural sites in Belgium. The mixed Romanesque– and Gothic-style cathedral of Notre Dame de Tournai and the belfry, the oldest in Belgium, have been jointly designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Inside the cathedral, the Châsse de Notre-Dame flamande, a beautifully ornate 12th-century reliquary, gives witness to Tournai’s wealth in the Middle Ages. Other places of interest are the 13th-century Scheldt bridge (Pont-des-Trous) and the main square (Grand’Place), as well as several old city gates, historic warehouses, and a variety of museums.

On rue Barre-St-Brice are two of the oldest private houses in Europe, dating from between 1175 and 1200 and built in the Romanesque style, while the rue des Jésuites includes a Gothic house from the 13th century.

Read more on City of Tournai, VisitBelgium.com – Tournai and Wikipedia Tournai. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.



Theme Week Oman - Masirah Island

Theme Week Oman - Masirah Island

[caption id="attachment_161755" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Kite surfing © flickr.com - StellarD/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Masirah or Mazeira Island is an island off the East coast of Oman, 95 km long north-south, betw...

Research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough

Research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough

[caption id="attachment_240808" align="aligncenter" width="590"] RRS Sir David Attenborough at Liverpool Cruise Terminal © Rodhullandemu/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]RRS Sir David Attenborough is a research vessel owned by ...

Portrait: Roman emperor Hadrian

Portrait: Roman emperor Hadrian

[caption id="attachment_192296" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Emporer Hadrian and Antinous busts in the British Museum in London © SanGavinoEN/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He wa...

Manchester in North West England

Manchester in North West England

[caption id="attachment_153114" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Town Hall © flickr.com - Stevo1000/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Manchester Listeni/?mænt??st?r/ is a city and metropolitan borough in North West England with an...

Les Baux-de-Provence in Provence

Les Baux-de-Provence in Provence

[caption id="attachment_150630" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © BlueBreezeWiki/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Les Baux-de-Provence is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the province of Provence in southern Fr...

Belcastel in Occitania

Belcastel in Occitania

[caption id="attachment_234273" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Pierre Bona/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Belcastel is a commune in the Aveyron department in the Occitania region in Southern France. In 2019, it had a popu...

Canada: Bon voyage!

Canada: Bon voyage!

[caption id="attachment_171212" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © George F.G. Stanley[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Canada has a large domestic and foreign tourism industry. The second largest country in the world and a population well ...

Mamaia in Romania

Mamaia in Romania

[caption id="attachment_231786" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Razvan Socol/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Mamaia is a resort on the Romanian Black Sea shore and a district of Constan?a. Considered to be Romania's...

Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania

Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania

[caption id="attachment_161161" align="aligncenter" width="590"] State Musical Theatre © Creative[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian econo...

Theme Week Yorkshire and the Humber - Wakefield

Theme Week Yorkshire and the Humber - Wakefield

[caption id="attachment_254189" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Trinity Walk shopping centre © Mtaylor848/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. T...

Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan

Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan

[caption id="attachment_4958" align="aligncenter" width="590" caption="Art Nouveau building © ?hsan Deniz K?l?ço?lu"][/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the C...

Château Haut-Brion in Aquitaine

Château Haut-Brion in Aquitaine

[caption id="attachment_163258" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Château Haut-Brion © flickr.com - BillBl/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Château Haut-Brion is a French wine, rated a Premier Cru Classé (First Growth), produced...

Return to TopReturn to Top