The story of Tournai Cathedral

Count the towers above the transept: there are five, clustered together, and the square ones reach 83 metres. Tournai Cathedral is the only church in Belgium built from the start as a cathedral, and as you walk from west to east you move through three periods of building. The heavy Romanesque nave was consecrated on 9 May 1171. The transept, with its rounded ends, marks the transition.

Then comes the choir, rebuilt from 1243 under Bishop Gauthier de Marvis in the Gothic style and dedicated in 1255, inspired by Amiens and so long that it equals the Romanesque nave and transept together. On 23 August 1566 iconoclasts destroyed most of the medieval decoration, but look for the Renaissance rood screen by Cornelis Floris, from 1573. The largest of the five bells, Marie-Gasparine, was cast in 1843 and weighs 9 tons. After a severe tornado on 14 August 1999, repairs have gone on ever since.

In 2000 the cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.