Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai

Unesco's Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization recognized the Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai, the Belgian kingdom as a World Cultural Heritage in 2000.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai, Belgium is one of Europe's most ancient church buildings. Tournai city is located about 100km from the capital Bruxelles, this is an ancient city that has a history of 2000 years.

The church has a striking Roman-style architecture, though it is still seen with its Roman architectural style, Gothic by the Church built and completed in 3 different stages.

Started to be built in the early 12th century on a flat and large area. The main space between the church stands out with Roman cathedral design, the decoration as well as the shaping in this middle space does not confuse with any other architectural style.

If viewed from the main side, from the bottom up, it seems that the church is divided into 3 parts with a wide and low middle space, two towers of symmetrical sides . but in fact the church also has 5 bell towers above the top backward can only be seen clearly if viewed from a high position

The bell tower has an uneven height, including a 83-meter-high tower, built in the 13th century in a Gothic style combined with Roman. The harem area is designed with an impressive semicircle with pillars and domed windows. The harem windows are designed in the style of round arches and pointed arches to avoid boredom and repeat in architecture. It can be said that the Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai is a unique and unique architectural work with a mixed architectural style of Roman, Gothic and Roman, of which the most prominent and leading role is Roman architecture.

The reason for such a combination is that in the first century BC, Tournai was an important center of the Roman Empire . Until the end of the 3rd century and the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity was brought to Tournai by missionaries. But it was not until the 5th century that, under the reign of Childeric, Christianity really began to form in this land. Therefore, the new church has a mixture of schools, different architectural styles.

The special point is that although the product is built in 3 different design stages, the overall architecture of the church is still a homogeneous block even though people still see different architectural styles present. Right here.

In fact, the architecture of Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai was built in the early 12th century, specifically the central space with Roman style furniture was built around 1192-1198. The following areas were built in the 13th and 14th centuries, between 12919-1252. The construction of the towers was continued to the new 16th century. Not only beautiful architecture, Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai is also famous for precious objects and paintings collected from many places and brought. on display here.

It can be said that the church is a mansion, an outstanding architectural work of Roman architectural style combined with ideas from other architectural and cultural styles. The church is a famous place for centuries and is also where many people choose to pilgrimage from remote areas.

By 1797, with the return of the French empire, the church was closed. The French took the valuable furniture of Notre Dame Cathedral and sold it. Many high-value artworks are auctioned and uncontrolled. At that time, the church was also destroyed and damaged many architectural parts. During the ensuing war, the church was fortunate to escape the complete collapse when a bomb fell right near the church even though widespread fire spread to the whole church, however the overall architecture was Unaffected. By the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a restoration campaign, preserving the Church, was carried out by the Tournai administration in order to return the Church's inherent splendor.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai is recognized by Unesco based on Criteria (ii) and (iv).

Criterion (ii): Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai is a testament to the intersection of artistic styles influenced by local art, the region's predecessor art, centuries ago, Roman art and Gothic and Roman art styles. All have a perfect combination to create an architectural work with high artistic value.

Criterion (iv): Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai outside of function, the function of a church of the church is also considered a high-value architectural works of art and is regarded as a large mansion of the area north of the Seine.
Along with some other Churches of Belgium, France, and Italy, Notre Dame Cathedral in Tournai in Belgium is one of the oldest churches in Europe so far.