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
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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.




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