Belfries of Belgium and France

Encyclopedia : B : BE : BEL : Belfries of Belgium and France

Belfry of Bruges

Belfry of Ghent

Mons

Belfry of Tournai

Boulogne-sur-Mer

Abbeville

An unequalled ensemble of fifty-six Belfries of Belgium and France is designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, in recognition of an architectural manifestation of emerging civic independance in historic Flanders and neighbouring regions from feudal and religious influences, leading to a degree of local democracy of great significance in the history of humankind.

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 départments in the northeastern tip of France were appended to the renamed list. Only a few of the towers are freestanding. A notable omission is the Brussels city hall belfry, as it was already part of the Grand Place World Heritage Site.

Besides civic belfries, or buildings such as city halls that rather obviously may have rendered a similar service, the list includes religious buildings that also had served as watchtower or alarm bell tower: the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, the St. Rumbolds Tower in Mechelen, and the St. Leonard's Church in Zoutleeuw - all three in Flanders, Belgium.

Belgium

ID numbers correspond to the order in the complete list ID 943/943bis from UNESCO, see External links

• ID 943-002 – Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp
• ID 943-003 – City Hall, Antwerp _{Quote from external link Detailed argumentation for list ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website: "The Hôtel de Ville in Antwerpen (1564) is an excellent example of the transposition of Renaissance principles in the central risalith with superposed diminishing registers flanked by obelisks and scrollwork and finished with a pediment, reiterating the theme of the central belfry." – Hôtel de Ville is French for 'City Hall', Antwerpen is the native name of 'Antwerp' in Dutch.} 
• ID 943-009 – Former City & 'Laken'(Cloth) Hall, Herentals
• ID 943-013 – City Hall and Belfry tower, Lier
• ID 943-016 – St. Rumbolds Tower of the cathedral, Mechelen _{UNESCO states, inappropriately in French: ID 943-016 Tour de Saint-Rombaut ; in native Dutch language this is Sint-Romboutstoren which is the main tower of the cathedral, once also used as a watchtower against fires.}
• ID 943-015 – Old Cloth Hall with Belfry, oldest part of the present-day City Hall, Mechelen _{UNESCO states, inappropriately in French: ID 943-015 Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi ; in native Dutch language this is Oude [or: Voormalige] Halle met Belfort. This 14th century Cloth Hall with never to its designed height built Belfry – both hardly ever used for the intended purposes – with more recent adjacent buildings, constitute the present-day City Hall.}

• ID 943-004 – Belfry known as Halletoren (Tower of the Halls) and [Market] Halls, Bruges
• ID 943-006 – City Hall and Belfry, Diksmuide
• ID 943-011 – Belfry known as Halletoren (Tower of the Hall), Kortrijk _{The belfry is known as Halletoren, because of an adjacent Cloth Hall that no longer exists; the tower is now free-standing.}
• ID 943-014 – Former City Hall with Belfry, at present a hotel, Lo-Reninge (Lo)
• ID 943-017 – City Hall and adjacent Belfry, Menen
• ID 943-018 – Grain Hall known as Stadshalle (City's [Market] Hall), with Belfry, Nieuwpoort
• ID 943-020 – City Hall, City's Market Hall, and Belfry, Roeselare
• ID 943-022 – Belfry known as Hallentoren (Tower of the Halls), Cloth Hall and Aldermen's Chamber, Tielt _{The belfry is known as Hallentoren or Tower of the Halls, plural: of the two adjacent wings or halls, only one remains, hence Cloth Hall, singular.}
• ID 943-025 – The Viscounty of Veurne-Ambacht's former urban seat known as Landhuis (literally: country-house) and Belfry, Veurne _{The city centre's Landhuis (literally: 'country-house') was once the seat of the kasselrij or burggraafschap (viscounty) Veurne-Ambacht, serving the countryside; here as opposed to the adjacent Stadhuis (literally: 'city-house' though always meaning the City Hall) serving the city. The Landhuis later became the Court of Justice and recently a place for cultural purposes, e.g. exhibitions, dance acts, concerts, etc.}
• ID 943-010 – Cloth Hall with Belfry, Ypres

• ID 943-001 – Aldermen's House with Belfry, Aalst
• ID 943-005 – City Hall with Belfry, Dendermonde
• ID 943-007 – City Hall with Belfry, Eeklo
• ID 943-008 – Belfry, Cloth Hall and Mammelokker (assumedly: 'Allurer of breasts'), Ghent _{The name Mammelokker (assumedly: 'Allurer of breasts') for the guard house at the part of the Cloth Hall that once served as a prison, refers to the story of a prisoner.}
• ID 943-019 – City Hall with Belfry, Oudenaarde

• ID 943-012 – St. Peter's Church and tower, Leuven
• ID 943-023 – St. Germanus Church with Stadstoren (City Tower), Tienen
• ID 943-026 – St. Leonard's Church, Zoutleeuw

• ID 943-021 – City Hall with Tower, Sint-Truiden
• ID 943-024 – Basilica of Our Lady with Stadstoren (City Tower), Tongeren

• ID 943-027 – Belfry of the City Hall, Binche
• ID 943-028 – Belfry of the City Hall, Charleroi
• ID 943-029 – Belfry, Mons
• ID 943-031 – Belfry, Thuin
• ID 943-032 – Belfry, Tournai

• ID 943-056 – Belfry, Gembloux
• ID 943-030 – Belfry, Namur

France

• ID 943-033 – Belfry of the City Hall, Armentières
• ID 943-034 – Belfry of the City Hall, Bailleul
• ID 943-035 – Belfry, Bergues
• ID 943-036 – Belfry of the St. Martin's Church, Cambrai
• ID 943-037 – Belfry of the City Hall, Comines
• ID 943-038 – Belfry of the City Hall, Douai
• ID 943-040 – Belfry of the City Hall, Dunkirk UNESCO states: ID 943-040 Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville, ID 943-039 Beffroi de l'église Saint-Eloi – further reading from other source: () [Monuments in Dunkirk]
• ID 943-039 – Belfry of the St. Eligius Church, Dunkirk .
• ID 943-041 – Belfry, Gravelines
• ID 943-042 – Belfry of the City Hall, Lille
• ID 943-043 – Belfry of the City Hall, Loos

• ID 943-044 – Belfry of the City Hall, Aire-sur-la-Lys
• ID 943-045 – Belfry of the City Hall, Arras
• ID 943-046 – Belfry, Béthune
• ID 943-047 – Belfry of the City Hall, Boulogne-sur-Mer
• ID 943-048 – Belfry of the City Hall, Calais
• ID 943-049 – Belfry of the City Hall, Hesdin

• ID 943-050 – Belfry, Abbeville
• ID 943-051 – Belfry, Amiens
• ID 943-052 – Belfry of the former Municipal Hall, at present the tourist information center, Doullens
• ID 943-053 – Belfry on the remaining City Gate, Lucheux
• ID 943-054 – Belfry, Rue
• ID 943-055 – Belfry, Saint-Riquier

See also

• List of World Heritage Sites in Europe

External links

• [Brief description of the ensemble ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website]

• [Detailed argumentation for list ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website]

• [The complete list ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website] (monuments ordered by UNESCO ID, which preceeds the corresponding monument in this Wikipedia article's main list)
• [Articles on the phenomenon of the belfries] from the Flemish Department of Monuments and Landscapes
• [The Belgian belfries on the UNESCO list ID 943 (without Gembloux)] with photographs and slideshows – from the Flemish Department of Monuments and Landscapes
• () [The French belfries on the UNESCO list ID 943bis] with photographs and descriptions; and a general article
• () [The French belfries on the UNESCO list ID 943bis] with thumbnails, photographs and descriptions

Footnotes

Aalst

Belfry overlooking the old town and hanging gardens of Thuin

World Heritage Sites in Belgium

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