Tournai Cathedral

Tournai is among the oldest cities in Belgium, and its cathedral of Notre-Dame is listed by UNESCO as a building where two great architectural moments meet head on: the nave and the five massive towers over the crossing are twelfth-century Romanesque, heavy, round-arched and austere, while the choir, rebuilt a century later, is early Gothic reaching for height and light, so you walk from one world into the other in a single building. The five towers are its signature and are visible across the plain. In the same square stands the belfry, the oldest in Belgium and part of a separate World Heritage listing covering the belfries of the region. The cathedral has been under long restoration since storm damage in the 1990s, which means scaffolding, though the interior has progressively reopened.

What you actually see

• The five towers - the Romanesque cluster over the crossing, unique in the region.
• Romanesque nave into Gothic choir - the two styles meeting inside the building.
• The treasury - reliquaries and the medieval shrines of the cathedral.
• The belfry - the oldest in Belgium, climbable, on the same square.

When to go

April to October is pleasantest for walking the town; the cathedral is open year-round outside services. Restoration work has been ongoing for decades, so check what is accessible before making a special trip. The belfry climb is best on a clear day.

Honest expectations

The long restoration means scaffolding inside and out and sections closed off, which has been true for many years and will remain so for some time. Tournai itself is a quiet provincial city, pleasant but modest, and a day covers it. It is out on the French border, away from the main Bruges-Ghent-Brussels circuit, so it sees few international visitors.

Nearby

Lille is half an hour over the French border; Mons and the Grand-Hornu are to the east.