Post card from Tournai, the Wallon city with 5 steeples

A millenary city, Tournai offers to its visitors a primodial religious architectural patrimony. Just a few kilometers from the French frontier, it is ranked as capital of Western Hainaut. This very francophone town with its five steeples is surmounted by Romanesque towers and the 12th century Gothic nave of its Notre-Dame cathedral, with the Escaut river flowing through.

Tournai, the city with 5 steeples in Wallonia

Raise your eyes to discover it, the facades are subtly ornamented with stone lace, and there are countless churches featuring priceless works. Jacques, Jean, Quentin, Marie-Madeleine, Marguerite, Martin, Nicolas, all the saints have their place of worship, including the Bell Tower where the oldest Belgian clock rings regularly. Here, one also finds a multitude of museums.

On the Grand Place, the gabled facades of the houses are lined up as though on parade, facing the rising fountains. © DR

Medieval and romantic, the Pont des Trous bridge enables to link both sides of the town embankments. © DR

Touring the museums and a festive ambiance

Dedicated to the Beaux-Arts, archeology, natural history, royal arms, tapestry or local folklore, the museums are filled with treasures. While respecting their traditions, the inhabitants of Tournai will lead you in their danses during carnival, a colorful procession that parades in the historical centre, escorted by « Giants ». Because in this region, revelry is a second nature…

In Tournai, the green spirit is very present with this park belonging to the abbatial palace of the Saint-Martin Abbey, reconverted into a City Hall. © DR