The Belfries of Belgium and France are a group of 56 historical buildings designated by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, in recognition of the civic (rather than church) belfries serving as an architectural manifestation of emerging civic independence from feudal and religious influences in the former County of Flanders (present-day French Flanders area of France and

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

region of Belgium) and neighbouring areas which once were possessions of the

House of Burgundy The House of Burgundy () was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, descending from Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, a younger son of King Robert II of France. The House ruled the Duchy of Burgundy from 1032–1361 and achieved the recognized title ...

(in present-day Wallonia of Belgium). The World Heritage Site was originally called the Belfries of Flanders and Wallonia, a 1999 UNESCO list of 32 towers in those two regions of Belgium. In 2005, the list was expanded and given its current name, recognizing the addition of 23 belfries from the

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais ...

and Picardy regions in the north-eastern tip of France, plus the belfry of

Gembloux Gembloux (; wa, Djiblou; nl, Gembloers, ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 21,964 inhabitants. The total area is 95.86 km², yielding a population dens ...

in Wallonia. Despite the list being concerned with civic tower structures, it includes six Belgian church towers (note the "cathedral"s, "church"es and "basilica" in the list below) under the pretext that they had served as watchtowers or alarm bell towers. Most of the structures in this list are towers projecting from larger buildings. However, a few are notably standalone, of which, a handful are rebuilt towers formerly connected to adjacent buildings. One notable omission may seem the tower of Brussels' Town Hall, but this is not an actual belfry. The original Belfry of Brussels was located next to the Church of St. Nicholas, until its collapse in 1714. As a side note, Brussels' Town Hall is part of the

Grand-Place The Grand-Place (French, ; "Grand Square"; also used in English) or Grote Markt (Dutch, ; "Big Market") is the central square of Brussels, Belgium. It is surrounded by opulent Baroque guildhalls of the former Guilds of Brussels and two larger ...

World Heritage Site.

List of belfries

Notes

References

External links

Brief description of the ensemble ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website

Detailed argumentation for list ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website

The complete list ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website
(monuments ordered by UNESCO ID, which precedes the corresponding monument in this Wikipedia article's main list)

from the Flemish Department of Monuments and Landscapes

with photographs and slideshows – from the Flemish Department of Monuments and Landscapes *

with photographs and descriptions; and a general article *
The French belfries on the UNESCO list ID 943bis
with thumbnails, photographs and descriptions {{World Heritage Sites in France World Heritage Sites in Belgium World Heritage Sites in France Bell towers Towers in France Lists of buildings and structures in France Lists of buildings and structures in Belgium Picardy Renaissance architecture in Belgium Renaissance architecture in France

List of belfries

See also

Notes

References

External links