WORLD HERITAGE SITES in BELGIUM

BELFRIES of BELGIUM and FRANCE
The Belfries of Belgium and France are a group of 56 historical buildings designated by UNESCO as one World Heritage Site, in recognition of an architectural manifestation of emerging civic independence from feudal and religious influences in historic Flanders and neighboUring regions of the Duchy of Burgundy.
UNESCO inscribed 32 towers onto its list of Belfries of Flanders and Wallonia in 1999. In 2005, the belfry of Gembloux in the Walloon Region of Belgium and 23 belfries from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions in the northern tip of France were appended to the renamed list. One notable omission is the Brussels City Hall belfry, as it is already part of the Grand Place World Heritage Site.
Constructed between the 11th and 17th centuries, these high towers were built in the heart of urban areas, often dominating the principal square, the belfries are essential elements in the organization and representation of the towns to which they belong. They showcase Roman, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles of architecture.
They are highly significant tokens of the winning of civil liberties. While Italian, German and English towns mainly opted to build town halls, in this part of northwestern Europe, greater emphasis was placed on building belfries. Compared with the keep (symbol of the seigneurs) and the bell-tower (symbol of the Church), the belfry, the third tower in the urban landscape, symbolizes the power of the aldermen. Over the centuries, they came to represent the influence and wealth of the towns and the birth of municipal power in the Middle Ages. Practical buildings, they housed the communal bells, conserved charters and treasures, where city council meetings were held, served as a watch tower and a prison, the belfry has, over the centuries, become the symbol of power and prosperity of the communal authority.
The belfries are, together with the market hall, significant representatives of civil and public architecture in Europe. The evolution from the “seigneurial keep” to the “communal keep” is noteworthy. The church belfries bear witness to the relationship, within the community, between civil and religious power.
Beyond their architectural structure, the belfries present a wide typology linked both to the history of the communities, the period of construction, the materials used and the personality of their master builders. In the urban configuration, they can be isolated, attached to a market place or to a town hall. However, despite this list being concerned with civic tower structures, additional six church towers were also made part of it under the pretext that they had served as watchtowers or alarm bell towers. These are the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, St. Rumbolds Cathedral in Mechelen, St. Peter’s Church, Leuven, St. Germanus Church in Tienen, the Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren and St. Leonard’s Church in Zoutleeuw. Most of the structures in this list are towers projecting from larger buildings. However, a few are notably stand-alone, of which, a handful are rebuilt towers formerly connected to adjacent buildings.
The belfry, a major element of the city, was also a weak point; a symbol and sometimes a watchtower, it was regularly destroyed during armed conflict. But their regular rebuilding, occurring to this day, expresses their exceptional symbolic role and the communities’ attachment to them.

BELGIUM
West Flanders

East Flanders

Antwerp

Flemish Brabant

Limburg

Wallonia

Hainaut

Namur

FRANCE

Nord-Pas de Calais

Nord

Pas-de-Calais

Picardy

Somme