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TOURNAI is the nearest southern Belgium has to the Flemish "art towns" of Flanders and the north, and is a pleasant spot to spend a couple of nights. The town was badly damaged by Allied bombing during World War II, but the cathedral, arguably the finest in the country, survived pretty much unscathed, as did the narrow lanes and alleys of the medieval street plan. Most things of interest are on the southern side of the river, grouped around or within easy walking distance of the sprawling Grand Place . Dominating the skyline with its distinctive five towers is Tournai's Romanesque Cathedrale Notre-Dame (daily 10am-noon & 2-4/6pm; free), built out of the local slate-coloured marble. The most unusual feature of the exterior is the fascinating Porte Mantile, a Romanesque doorway on its north side, adorned with forceful, almost pagan carvings of the virtues and vices. Inside, the nave was erected in 1171, its intricately carved capitals leading down to a choir that was the first manifestation of the Gothic style in Belgium. Be sure to visit the treasury (?0.50), which houses two important thirteenth-century gilt reliquaries - the Romanesque-Gothic chasse de Notre-Dame (1205) by Nicolas de Verdun, and the chasse de Saint Eleuthere (1247) - as well as a stunning Ecce Homo by Quentin Matsys. Close to the cathedral, virtually on the corner of the Grand Place, the Belfry is the oldest in Belgium, its lower portion dating from 1200. Close by, on place Reine Astrid, is the Musee de la Tapisserie (daily except Tues 10am-noon & 2-5.30pm; ?2), which features old tapestries on the ground floor and modern works above - Tournai was among the most important pictorial tapestry centres in Belgium in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Just along the street, cut up through the gardens to the Hotel de Ville , the grandest of several municipal buildings that share the same compound. Behind here, the Musee des Beaux Arts (daily except Tues 10am-noon & 2-5.30pm; ?3), housed in an elegant late-1920s building by Victor Horta, has a well-displayed collection of mainly Belgian painting from the Flemish primitives to the twentieth century.
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