Tournaisis

The Tournaisis, or Tournai (Flemish: Doornik), a territory in the Low Countries in present-day Belgium, is one of Europe's oldest town centres.

[1] Located in the Wallonia region of Belgium on the Scheldt River (French: L'Escaut), northwest of Mons, Tournai residents are primarily French-speaking.

It is home to some of the oldest and best preserved medieval architecture in Europe, notably the Cathédrale Notre Dame and the Belfry of Tournai, a belltower built in 1188, both of which are designated UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Tournai was important to the Romans since the time of Saint Piat in the 3rd century, and it has origins that date back to 60 AD.

From 1543 until the 1560s, it was a favoured locations for anti-Spanish rebels until Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma recaptured it for Spain after the siege of 1581.

[3] A statue honoring Tournai's greatest heroine of the war, the Belgian spy Gabrielle Petit, stands today near the St. Brice church.

[5] Featuring a 256-step stairway, it is part of a set of Belfries of Belgium and France, and in 1999 it was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its architecture and for the importance in the rise of municipal power in Europe.

With five towers, a Gothic choir, and 13th-century reliquary shrines, it houses one of the most valuable collections of church treasures in Belgium.

[9][1] Musée de Folklore is a 23-room museum housed in Le Mason Tournaisienne that depicts daily life in the history of Tournai.

[1] Musée des Arts de la Marionnette, located in a 19th century mansion, is a museum with a collection of over 2,500 puppets from around the world.

The territory, like that of Flanders, but unlike neighbouring Hainaut, was part of early medieval West Francia, which evolved into France.