Belfries

Belfries
Belfries are medieval bell-towers. They are mostly found in town centers, and connected to the local town hall or church. At their time, the Belfries represented the growing importance of cities instead of the feudal system in the Middle Ages.

The oldest belfries date from the 13th century. After several fires, stone began to be used as building material instead of wood. Mainly square, robust towers were built in this period.

Later, from the 14th to the 17th century when most of the still remaining belfries were built, the towers lose their defensive character. They become narrower, and the styles are influenced by baroque.

In 2005, this site was extended to include belfries in France.

Exact locations inscribed twice (or more) . Cathedrals . WHS within walking distance . WHS within walking distance .



Visit Jan 2001, Apr 2005, May 2006

Of the numerous belfries in Belgium, I first visited the one in Lier. Lier is a picturesque small town near Antwerp. It also has an old Beguinage, part of another worldheritage. The tower in Lier distinguishes itself because of the 4 little towers. It's situated at a typical Flemish square, where a market for pigeon enthousiasts was going on when I was there.

The belfry in Leuven, another nice Flemish town, I visited four years later. It's part of St. Peter's church. This tower has a quite unusual shape because it was left unfinished.

My first French belfry I saw in Amiens. I had expected Amiens to be a lot more like those Belgian towns, but there isn't much left of its medieval history besides the city's two highlights: the Cathedral and this belfry.

Reviews

Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
Formerly known as the Belfries of Flanders and Wallonia and now called the Belfries of Belgium and France after 23 (!) such buildings in the north of France were added to the 33 (!) already on the List from Belgium, these make an easy site to visit, since you can go to almost any town in Belgium or northern France and see a belfry there that´s probably on the List. Generally speaking, a belfry is a symbol of a city´s freedom from some outside overlord (as opposed to a castle - symbol of the feudal lords - and a belltower - symbol of the church) and later came to signify a city´s wealth and prosperity. I´m pretty sure I´ve seen several belfries on the List, but that was before their WH status was announced, so I can only speak for the one in Amiens in northern France, which is a nice building, but not particularly noteworthy in my opinion. It´s only open about one weekend a month or so, so you can only see it from the outside. Amiens is a nice enough place, but don´t go there just for the belfry.
Date posted: August 2006
Marcel (Germany):
I visited the town of Brugge in summer 2004 as I had to take a train from there back home so that I could subscribe for university just in time. I've been on vacation in northern France, directly behind the Belgian boarder and so used around six hours to visit this town. The Belfry of Brugge is really beautiful and it definately dominates the market square. I sat in a café at the market and had a lovely view to this amazing building which is really worth a visit.
Date posted: July 2005
William Sambrook (England):
The beautiful belfry in Mons (Hainaut) is the only Baroque one in Belgium and symbolic of the city. It is located in the highest part of the town, built as the name Mons suggests, on a hill. The youth hostel is right next door. Mons is in the industrial Borinage region of Southwest Belgium and often overlooked in favour of the showcase cities of Flanders. There are, however more world heritage sites or parts of world heritage sites in Hainaut province (4) than in any other in Belgium.
 
Ian Cade (England):
I have now seen many of the Belfries inscribed, 15 I think. Perhaps the most impressive is the Belfry of Onze Lieve Vrowkathedraal in Antwerpen (pictured) which contains four major paintings by Rubens and is well worth a visit, it shares a square with the Stadhuis which is also inscribed. In the rest of Flanders, the one in Mechelen is massive, the one in Brugge seems to be too big for the area it inhabits, Gent has a very interesting one with statues of the former guards on it, and the one in Leuven is odd as it was never completed but is set in a fantastic city with much a more impressive neighbour in the shape of the Stadhuis. I also visited the Cloth-hall in Ypres when I was on a school trip to WWI battle sites, and surprisingly I remember it but not too much of the detail.
In Wallonia the most impressive Belfry was the one at Tournai which is right next to the Cathedral, it has some excellent multi-lingual exhibits inside that explain the role of the Belfries very well, I also managed to catch a look at the one in Mons on the way to the Flint mines at Spiennes.
Of the new ones added in France I have seen many from differing modes of transport and the one that sticks in my head is the one in Lille as it was big enough to make an impression from the Eurostar train. I did manage to stop and get a good look at the one in Calais lit up at night, which was surprisingly nice, as the city, to be polite, is not surprisingly nice!
It is defiantly enjoyable to visit these cities and there is normally much more to see than just the Belfries. In this corner of Western Europe you also have some of its best food and in Belgium especially its best beers to make the experience all the more enjoyable.
 


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