Beffroi de Tournai

The Belfry of Tournai, raised in 1187 at the southeastern corner of the triangular Grand-Place, is the oldest surviving belfry in Belgium. Built as a deliberate act of civic assertion — a secular tower, not a church steeple — it embodied the rising power of the urban merchant class against the ecclesiastical institutions that had long dominated medieval city life, at a moment when the neighboring Notre-Dame cathedral was still under construction. Since 1999 it has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside 55 other belfries of Belgium and France. Visitors can climb the tower for views over the Grand-Place and Tournai's rooftops, with the historic carillon marking the hours below.