Veurne

Veurne kept its Grote Markt more or less intact, an unusually complete square of gabled brick and stone buildings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when the town was a Spanish administrative centre, including the town hall, the old law courts, a belfry listed among the Belgian belfries, and the Spanish Pavilion. The square survived both world wars, which few in this part of Flanders did. The town's tradition is the Boetprocessie, a penitents' procession held on the last Sunday of July since 1644, in which hooded figures in brown sackcloth walk the streets barefoot carrying wooden crosses, alongside tableaux of biblical scenes, a survival of a form of public penance that has disappeared almost everywhere else.

History

Veurne, Furna in Latin, is first mentioned in 877 as a possession of the abbey of Saint Bertin, held out against the Vikings around 890, and became the head of a castellany of 42 parishes under the counts of Flanders and a city in the 12th century. Trade with England flourished in the 13th century until it stopped in 1270, a long decline that earned the townspeople the nickname of the Veurne Sleepers; a new town hall, later the Pavilion of the Spanish officers, rose in the 15th century, most of the other historic buildings date from the prosperous rule of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella around 1600, and the penitents' procession, begun in 1644, is the only one of its kind left in Flanders (Wikipedia, Veurne).

Highlights

• An intact Spanish-era square - gabled buildings from the seventeenth century.
• The belfry - climbable, and listed among the Belgian belfries.
• The penitents' procession - hooded barefoot figures on the last Sunday of July.
• The Spanish Pavilion - the administrative building on the market.

When to go

April to October for the town; the last Sunday of July for the procession, which fills it. Half a day otherwise. The belfry has limited opening. Weekday mornings are quiet.

Practical notes

It is small and half a day is enough outside procession day. The procession is a religious observance, not a pageant, and should be watched quietly. Museums keep short hours. Interpretation is largely in Dutch.

Nearby

De Panne and the coast are north-west; Poperinge lies south-east.

Key facts