Grand Place - Tournai
The Grand-Place of Tournai (Belgium)
does not always have this place open with its welcoming terraces. Between the first and 4th centuries, part of the square served as a cemetery and, during excavations undertaken during the development work at the end of the 20th century, the remains of a Carolingian chapel were found.
For centuries, it will be outside the first ramparts of the city whose historic heart was closer to the Scheldt. After the abandonment of the cemetery due to the expansion of the city, it is transformed into a market place. In 1187, when the King of France Philip Augustus gave the city a charter guaranteeing it communal freedoms, the Tournaisians chose the market to erect a Belfry. The Grand-Place became the centre of communal life that we still know today.
From its particularity of being triangular in shape, it is also so by the Flemish architecture of the houses that form a harmonious whole and makes it the most Flemish of the Walloon cities.
Grand Place - Tournai
The Grand-Place of Tournai (Belgium)
does not always have this place open with its welcoming terraces. Between the first and 4th centuries, part of the square served as a cemetery and, during excavations undertaken during the development work at the end of the 20th century, the remains of a Carolingian chapel were found.
For centuries, it will be outside the first ramparts of the city whose historic heart was closer to the Scheldt. After the abandonment of the cemetery due to the expansion of the city, it is transformed into a market place. In 1187, when the King of France Philip Augustus gave the city a charter guaranteeing it communal freedoms, the Tournaisians chose the market to erect a Belfry. The Grand-Place became the centre of communal life that we still know today.
From its particularity of being triangular in shape, it is also so by the Flemish architecture of the houses that form a harmonious whole and makes it the most Flemish of the Walloon cities.