UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Belgium

Belgium is a tiny little country, but it has a whooping 13 UNESCO World Heritage sites! Well, actually many many more, because 3 of those are groups of monuments scattered across different cities, making the actual number of places to 61!!!! How many have I seen? Well, I'VE BEEN TO ALL 13 UNESCO SITES OF BELGIUM.... but not all 61!!!! Read on and I'll explain what I mean by that!

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1. Belfries of Belgium (32 places): There are a total of 56 belfries of France and Belgium listed together under UNESCO. 32 of those are in Belgium. Most of the towns had 2 towers, one over the townhall and another over the church, which kept of growing as the aldermen (politicians) & church had more power of the other, as time went by. Belfries are essentially one of / both these 2 towers with bell atop of it, depending of who was more powerful by the end of medieval times, in the respective towns/cities. I've been to Ghent, Tournai, Bruges, Mechelen, Ypres, Mons, Antwerp, Leuven and Namur so far, totaling to 11.

2. Flemish Beguinages(13 places): The Flanders region of Belgium had this history of Beguinages. These are something like nunnery, but not really as strict as nunneries! The women here called Beguines, were dedicated to God, but they had economic independence. They lived in communities called Beguinages, located in the outskirts of the towns. I've been to the Beguinages of Ghent, Leuven, Bruges and Mechelen, totaling to 5.

3. Major mining sites of Wallonia (4 places): Coal mining was one of the primary commercial activity, a few decades back, in Wallonia region of Belgium. There are quite a few coal mines here but 4 of those are listed under UNESCO for their exceptional character. I've been to 3 of those - Grand Hornu& Bois du Luc near Mons and Blegny Mine near Liege. The one I'm yet to visit is Bois du Cazier near Charleroi.

4. The Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs, La Louvière and Le Roeulx: As mentioned earlier, Wallonia was the commercial hub in the era bygone with all the coal mining happening here. So yeah, the coal has to be transported and for that the 2 rivers here - Meuse & Scheldt, were used much. A canal was made between the 2, but the 2 are in different altitudes, so to help the boat transition the altitude change, there were this series of 4 boatlifts, which are still functional today! This is closer to Mons.

5. Grand Place, Brussels: This is the major town-square of Brussels which has been in existence and the hub of commercial activities since 13th C CE, but the current structures are primarily from 17th C CE. The first ever time I visited Brussels on a day-trip from London, I was here for the Flower Carpet of 2016. Since then I've also attended Flower Time 2017 and Flower Carpet 2018. The best time to visit here is perhaps during Flower Carpet/Time, Christmas or Brussels Lights. The gorgeous structures are well-lit and would make you feel the magic!

6. Major town houses of Victor Horta, Brussels(4 places): Art-Nouveau movement and Brussels go hand in hand! Most of the gorgeous architecture in Brussels belong to either Art-Deco or Art-Nouveau time periods. Victor Horta is one of the visionaries of Art Nouveau era and 4 of the buildings - 3 historic hotels & 1 house cum studio are listed together. Unfortunately the 3 hotels (they're not functional currently) are inaccessible to public and they have an annual opening for a few days and somehow I've never been able to track those dates and visit the interiors! I've only seen these from outside. The house is currently converted as Horta Museum and open to public on weekends.

7. Stoclet House, Brussels: More Art-Nouveau. This private residence of Adolphe Stoclet, designed Josef Hoffmann, in 1905 is an exemplary masterpiece of Art-Nouveau architecture. While it is architecture is fascinating to view from outside, the interiors, which holds masterpieces of various artists including Gustave Klimt, cannot be accessed!!! So no, you cannot technically visit the Stoclet House...

8. Notre Dame Cathedral, Tournai: This is the birthplace of France! Here's the thing - Belgium was formed very recently, unlike France which has been in existence since several centuries. A small portion of France (along with a portion of NL) formed Belgium. So quite amusingly the birthplace of France is in today's Belgium (so is the birthplace of fries - yup, they're Belgian fries, not French fries)!

9. Historic Centre of Brugge: This romantic city of canals, that has served as the filming location of many movies, including the bollywood super hit PK! A weekend trip from Brussels would be perfect to roam about the entire city & canals, see its belfry, beguinages, city hall, several museums with gorgeous paintings of Flemish Masters and more!!

10. Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes: This is perhaps the site that I enjoyed the most! As the name suggest is the mines where flints were excavated by stone-age people!!! The best-part, you get to climb 10m down inside these mines using a ladder and explore the neolithic chambers, complete with exposed flints! This is also closer to Mons.

11. Sonian Forest: This is listed as Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe under UNESCO. Carpathians is a mountain range that spreads from Romania to Czech republic where the main tree that grows in Beech. So the forests where Beech trees are the primary foliage, not only in Carpathians but elsewhere in Europe as well, are listed together under UNESCO and the only forest in Belgium in this listing is Sonian Forest! There are 5 enclaves within the Sonian Forest - 2 closer to Watermael-Boitsfort, 1 closer to Groenendaal, 2 closer to Solvay Castle.

12. Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex, Antwerp: This is the only museum listed in UNESCO! This museum was a printing and publishing house since 16th C CE which printed not only bible, but also other literature, dictionaries and scientific publications, not in just 1 or 2 languages, but a whole array including Aramaic, Hebrew, Old Syriac, Arabic, Latin, Greek etc.

13. Maison Guiette, Antwerp: This building is one of the architectural work of Le Corbusier. There are 17 buildings, across the world, listed together and only Maison Guitte is in Belgium. Its located a bit away from the city centre of Antwerp and requires a short tram ride to reach here, but again, like Stoclet House, this too is a private property and you cannot visit Maison Guitte, but can only see it from outside!

Apart from these, 18 more sites are in the tentative list including World War sites of Ypres, Waterloo Napoleonic battlefield, Historic City Centre of Ghent, Historic Spa towns including Spa, Palais du Justice in Brussels and more...
There is a single site under UNESCO Geopark - Famenne Ardennes. Then there are the intangible cultural heritage including Belgian beer, Processional carnivals, Carillon culture and several more...

Back to the actual list, as I mentioned in the beginning, there are 61 actual places to see in Belgium listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, though the count is only 13. So yes, I've been to all 13, meaning, atleast 1 of the multi-location sites. Of the 61? That would be 32....Et toi? En jij?

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Belgium

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