Amiens Cathedral is a towering UNESCO-listed Gothic masterpiece in Hauts-de-France — famous for its record-breaking nave height intricate sculpted façade and sublime medieval choir stalls making it one of the most remarkable and complete Gothic cathedrals in the whole of Europe.
France & Belgium: UNESCO listed belfries
🏰 Belfries of Belgium and France — Chasing Civic Towers Through Northern France
Now, most folk think of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as one big famous place — your Stonehenge, your Great Wall, that sort of thing. But actually, some listings are a bit more unusual — they cover a collection of related things, whether that’s the work of a particular architect, an area of ancient rock art, or in this case, a rather splendid group of historic towers. We’d never really thought about it that way until we started digging a bit deeper.
One of the more intriguing collections on the UNESCO list is the Belfries of Belgium and France — a group of 56 historic civic buildings that, frankly, don’t get half the attention they deserve. These aren’t church towers or castle keeps, mind you — they’re civic belfries, which is a rather important distinction. They were built to symbolise the growing independence of towns and cities from feudal lords and the church, at a time when ordinary people were starting to push back against centuries of being told what to do. The initial 32 belfries to receive UNESCO recognition — back in 1999 — were all located in the Flanders and Wallonia regions of Belgium. Then, in 2005, a further 23 belfries across the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions of northern France were added to the list, bringing the total to 56. One belfry in the mix is actually in the UK — in Calais — which always raises an eyebrow or two.
We decided to seek out a few of these on our way through northern France, and very glad we were too. We’re hoping to tick off more on future trips, but for now here’s the first of the three we managed to track down.
Finding these towers is, on the whole, not too tricky — but the towns have grown up around them over the centuries, so a bit of wandering about is sometimes needed. UNESCO does provide a map on their website with GPS coordinates, which is handy. Their official information, though, is — how shall we put this — a bit dry. Very worthy, no doubt, but not exactly a page-turner. We found a much more digestible source over at Spottinghistory.com, which we’d thoroughly recommend.
📍 St Riquier, Picardy, France
Right then — Saint-Riquier. This is a small, rather charming town in the Somme department of Picardy, about 10 kilometres north-east of Abbeville. The town itself has a history stretching back well over a thousand years — it grew up around a Benedictine abbey founded in the 7th century, and by the medieval period it had developed into a proper little town with its own civic identity and, naturally, its own belfry.
The belfry at Saint-Riquier stands as a symbol of the civic freedoms the town acquired in 1126, when it gained a charter of liberties — no small thing in 12th-century France, we can tell you. It’s a square tower, built from stone and sandstone, and it sits on medieval foundations that have been there for the best part of nine centuries. The tower was given its current elevation in the 16th century, and the bell tower portion at the top was added later still, in the 18th century — so it’s very much a building that grew and changed with the times, like a lot of us.
Inside, the belfry housed a prison — always useful — along with four rooms stacked one on top of the other, each floor reflecting a different aspect of the town’s civic life over the centuries. Today, rather more pleasantly, it houses the Tourist Information office. So if you need a map or a leaflet about local attractions, you know where to go. You can’t say the French don’t have a sense of history.
Address: Rue de L’Hopital, 80135 Saint-Riquier, France
GPS: N50 8 4.00 E1 56 45.00
🏛️ 2. Abbeville’s Ancient Belfry
Now, Abbeville isn’t a name that trips off the tongue for most British travellers, but we found ourselves rather glad we stopped here. We were standing in front of one of the oldest belfries in the whole of France — and when you consider that France has been putting up impressive stonework since before most of our ancestors had figured out which end of a chisel to hold, that’s saying something.
The belfry was built back in 1209, which puts it firmly in the reign of King Philip II of France — or Philippe Auguste as the French prefer — a monarch who, incidentally, had a rather complicated relationship with our own King John. Medieval Picardy was at the very heart of French civic life, and these belfries weren’t just decorative; they were symbols of genuine municipal muscle, the towns literally ringing their bells to show they had rights and freedoms granted by the Crown. This particular one stood at the centre of Abbeville, a prosperous cloth-trading town on the River Somme, for over seven centuries.
Then came the 20th of May, 1940. If that date rings a bell — and it rather should — it was right in the thick of the German advance through France during the opening weeks of the Second World War. The Luftwaffe didn’t spare Abbeville, and the belfry’s roof took a direct hit during the bombing. What followed was a rather prolonged case of civic amnesia — the roof sat unrepaired for no fewer than 46 years. It wasn’t until 1986 that somebody finally got round to sorting it out. We imagine there were quite a few committee meetings involved.
In 2005, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO added it to their list of 56 belfries across Belgium and France — a recognition of the role these structures played in the rise of municipal power across the region, as well as their architectural merit. Since 1954, the belfry has done double duty as the city museum, which means you can have a good nosey around the history of Abbeville and the surrounding area while you’re at it.
Address: 24 Rue Gontier Patin, 80100 Abbeville
GPS: N50 6 27.00 E1 50 3.00
🏛️ 3. Amiens’ Mighty Square Belfry
We’d barely recovered from Abbeville when Amiens hove into view, and frankly, this one made us crane our necks a fair bit more. The belfry here is a proper beast — a massive square tower that was constructed between 1406 and 1410, right in the middle of the Hundred Years’ War, when the English and French were still having their rather lengthy disagreement about who should be running things. The people of Amiens, clearly undeterred by the geopolitical chaos around them, cracked on and built something that has dominated the skyline ever since.
The tower got its current top — a mid-18th-century addition that brings the whole thing up to a rather impressive 52 metres — sometime around the 1750s, when the rest of Europe was busy with wigs and harpsichords. Then, just as with poor Abbeville down the road, 1940 came along and the Luftwaffe had a go at it. The upper section was damaged during the German advance through Picardy in that dreadful summer, though unlike some, it was eventually patched up and restored to something approaching its former glory.
Amiens itself is worth more than a flying visit. It sits on the River Somme in the heart of Picardy, and the city carries a great deal of history — not least as the home of one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in the world, which rather puts our own efforts to shame. The tourist office runs two guided tours of the belfry per month, and rather helpfully, one of those includes a tour of the cathedral as well, so you get two for the price of one. In July and August, they also lay on night-time visits, which we imagine are atmospheric to say the least. Do check the website and reserve well ahead though — these fill up quickly and turning up on the off-chance is a mug’s game.
Address: Rue de L’Hopital, 80135 Saint-Riquier, France
GPS: N49 53 45.00 E2 17 47.00
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