Tournai Cathedral
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How it came to be
When a new diocese was created at Tournai, Eleutherius, a native of the town, became its bishop. The present cathedral was begun on older foundations in the 12th century, and its nave belongs mostly to the first third of that century. The large four-level nave was left almost untouched in later centuries.
The transept went up around the middle of the 12th century, crowned by a cluster of five towers; the square towers flanking it reach 83 metres. In the 13th century Bishop Walter of Marvis had the Romanesque choir pulled down, and a choir in pure Gothic style was built from the 1240s to 1255.
Stained glass by Arnold of Nijmegen was added in 1507 and Cornelis Floris's rood screen in 1573. Bombing in the Second World War set fire to the nave roof, and a tornado on 14 August 1999 exposed structural problems, so repairs and archaeological work continue. The cathedral was inscribed in 2000 as a meeting point of architectural influence from the Île-de-France, the Rhineland and Normandy.
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