4 Best Sights in Tournai, Western Wallonia

Without doubt, the crowning glory of Tournai is its magnificent cathedral, which soars over the center and remains one of the great sights of Belgium. Its existence dates back to the 5th century, though work on the current building began some 700 years later, first in the Romanesque style, then becoming more Gothic as construction progressed. Its exterior is breathtaking, etched in blue stone with a huge rose window (replaced in the 19th century). Parts are still being renovated now but visitors are free to wander most of the interior, including the Tresor (Treasury), which contains, among its relics, tapestries, and the vestment worn by 12th-century saint Thomas Becket, a former Archbishop of Canterbury. 

An eclectic wonder of a museum spread over a pair of gabled 17th-century houses. Its rooms narrate a life gone by in Tournai. Some items seem almost inconsequential, but when added together they paint a fascinating picture, as subjects skip from death, printing (Tintin publisher Casterman was based in Tournai), porcelain, and hats, to dog wheels (yes, there’s a canine-powered butter churner), football memorabilia, Belgium's first frites stall, and plenty more. 

By the late Middle Ages, Tournai was a wealthy bishopric and a fine prize for any European superpower. It's no surprise that its history is one of constant siege and invasion, as it swapped French, British, Spanish, Austrian, and German rulers for much of the past 500 years. As such, this unassuming two-floor military museum is the finest source of history on the city, backed by weapons and uniforms from the ages. Strangely, the 18th and 19th centuries remain untranslated, but most exhibits are in English, and coverage of the wars of the 20th century are superb, particularly the German and Allied bombing campaigns that leveled the city in 1940, 1943, and 1944. Photography from that era shows just how much of Tournai has been rebuilt.

Even the building is a work of art. Opened in 1928, this museum was designed by Victor Horta, doyen of the Art Nouveau movement, though war interrupted the original commission and by the time he returned to it, his tastes had shifted to a more sober Art Deco style. The airy interior features fine works by Tournai's own Rogier van der Weyden and Flemish greats Peter Paul Rubens and Pieter Breughel. A particularly eye-catching piece by the Mouscron-born Rémy Cogghe, of a bar brawl gone wrong, is wonderfully fraught with drama. The showpieces are mainly French or Dutch, including scribbles by Toulouse-Lautrec, a sketch by Van Gogh, and works by Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, and a pair of paintings by Edouard Manet—perhaps the real gems here. A lack of any explanation in English doesn't diminish this fine collection.