Tournai Cathedral

Our Lady of Flanders' Cathedral of Tournai is one of the most important architectural monuments in Belgium. This structure of local blue-gray stone occupies rising ground near the south bank of the Scheldt, which divides the city of Tournai into two roughly equal parts. Begun in the 12th century on even older foundations, the building combines the work of three design periods with striking effect, the heavy and severe character of the Romanesque nave contrasting remarkably with the Transitional work of the transept and the fully developed Gothic of the choir. The transept is the most distinctive part of the building, with its cluster of five bell towers and apsidal (semicircular) ends.

In recognition of the Tournai cathedral's cultural value, UNESCO designated the building a World Heritage Site in the year 2000.