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WORLD HERITAGE SITES in BELGIUM

BELFRIES of BELGIUM and FRANCE
The Belfries of Belgium and France are a group of 56 historical buildings designated by UNESCO as one World Heritage Site, in recognition of an architectural manifestation of emerging civic independence from feudal and religious influences in historic Flanders and neighboUring regions of the Duchy of Burgundy.
UNESCO inscribed 32 towers onto its list of Belfries of Flanders and Wallonia in 1999. In 2005, the belfry of Gembloux in the Walloon Region of Belgium and 23 belfries from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions in the northern tip of France were appended to the renamed list. One notable omission is the Brussels City Hall belfry, as it is already part of the Grand Place World Heritage Site.
Constructed between the 11th and 17th centuries, these high towers were built in the heart of urban areas, often dominating the principal square, the belfries are essential elements in the organization and representation of the towns to which they belong. They showcase Roman, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles of architecture.
They are highly significant tokens of the winning of civil liberties. While Italian, German and English towns mainly opted to build town halls, in this part of northwestern Europe, greater emphasis was placed on building belfries. Compared with the keep (symbol of the seigneurs) and the bell-tower (symbol of the Church), the belfry, the third tower in the urban landscape, symbolizes the power of the aldermen. Over the centuries, they came to represent the influence and wealth of the towns and the birth of municipal power in the Middle Ages. Practical buildings, they housed the communal bells, conserved charters and treasures, where city council meetings were held, served as a watch tower and a prison, the belfry has, over the centuries, become the symbol of power and prosperity of the communal authority.
The belfries are, together with the market hall, significant representatives of civil and public architecture in Europe. The evolution from the “seigneurial keep” to the “communal keep” is noteworthy. The church belfries bear witness to the relationship, within the community, between civil and religious power.
Beyond their architectural structure, the belfries present a wide typology linked both to the history of the communities, the period of construction, the materials used and the personality of their master builders. In the urban configuration, they can be isolated, attached to a market place or to a town hall. However, despite this list being concerned with civic tower structures, additional six church towers were also made part of it under the pretext that they had served as watchtowers or alarm bell towers. These are the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, St. Rumbolds Cathedral in Mechelen, St. Peter’s Church, Leuven, St. Germanus Church in Tienen, the Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren and St. Leonard’s Church in Zoutleeuw. Most of the structures in this list are towers projecting from larger buildings. However, a few are notably stand-alone, of which, a handful are rebuilt towers formerly connected to adjacent buildings.
The belfry, a major element of the city, was also a weak point; a symbol and sometimes a watchtower, it was regularly destroyed during armed conflict. But their regular rebuilding, occurring to this day, expresses their exceptional symbolic role and the communities’ attachment to them.

BELGIUM
West Flanders

Bruges Hallentoren belfry and halls
Diksmuide City Hall and Belfry
Kortrijk Hallentoren Belfry
Lo-Reninge (Lo) Town Hall with Belfry (at present a hotel)
Menen City Hall and adjacent Belfry
Nieuwpoort Stadshalle grain hall (market hall) with Belfry
Roeselare City Hall, Stadshalle (market hall) and Belfry
Tielt Hallentoren belfry, Cloth Hall and Aldermen’s Chamber [2]
Veurne Landhuis (“country-house”, former seat of the Viscounty of Veurne-Ambacht) and Belfry
Ypres Cloth Hall with Belfry

East Flanders

Aalst Aldermen’s House with Belfry
Dendermonde City Hall with Belfry
Eeklo City Hall with Belfry
Ghent Belfry, Cloth Hall and Mammelokker
Oudenaarde City Hall with Belfry

Antwerp

Antwerp Cathedral of Our Lady
Antwerp City Hall
Herentals Former City & ‘Laken'(Cloth) Hall
Lier City Hall and Belfry tower
Mechelen St. Rumbolds Tower of the cathedral
Mechelen Old Cloth Hall with Belfry (now part of the City Hall complex)

Flemish Brabant

Leuven St. Peter’s Church and tower
Tienen St. Germanus Church with Stadstoren (City Tower)
Zoutleeuw St. Leonard’s Church

Limburg

Sint-Truiden City Hall with Tower
Tongeren Basilica of Our Lady with Stadstoren (City Tower)

Wallonia

Hainaut

Binche Belfry of the City Hall
Charleroi Belfry of the City Hall
Mons Belfry
Thuin Belfry
Tournai Belfry

Namur

Gembloux
Namur

 

FRANCE

Nord-Pas de Calais

Nord

Armentières Belfry of the City Hall
Bailleul Belfry of the City Hall
Bergues Belfry
Cambrai Belfry of the St. Martin’s Church
Comines Belfry of the City Hall
Douai Belfry of the City Hall
Dunkirk Belfry of the City Hall
Dunkirk Belfry of Dunkirk (former church tower attached to Saint Eligius, in the 1700s transformed into a standalone municipal belfry)
Gravelines Belfry
Lille Belfry of the City Hall
Loos Belfry of the City Hall

Pas-de-Calais

Aire-sur-la-Lys Belfry of the City Hall
Arras Belfry of the City Hall
Béthune Belfry
Boulogne-sur-Mer Belfry of the City Hall
Calais Belfry of the City Hall
Hesdin Belfry of the City Hall

Picardy

Somme

Abbeville Belfry
Amiens Belfry
Doullens Belfry of the former Municipal Hall, at present the tourist information center
Lucheux Belfry on the remaining City Gate
Rue Belfry
Saint-Riquier Belfry
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I would like to think of myself as a full time traveler. I have been retired since 2006 and in that time have traveled every winter for four to seven months. The months that I am "home", are often also spent on the road, hiking or kayaking. I hope to present a website that describes my travel along with my hiking and sea kayaking experiences.

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