The Belfry of Comines

After a preliminary tower, which suffered many trials and tribulations, the Cröy family, lords of Comines, ordered the building of a town hall and a belfry, which was completed in 1623.

In 1857, the upper part of the building began to lean dangerously. In just a few hours, a master carpenter succeeded in straightening the frame, the dome, the two wings, the bells, the clock and the weather vane! Alas, in 1918, the Germans dynamited this listed monument.

The architect Louis-Marie Cordonnier rebuilt it exactly as before, replacing the wooden framework with reinforced concrete. Today, therefore, we can admire the incredible egg-shaped onion dome that tops it, an architectural curiosity that is unique in its genre. The adjoining town hall is the venue for another remarkable event: every second Sunday in October, a shower of wooden ladles falls onto a happy crowd !

This practice with its mysterious origins may be linked to the installation of the Franche Foire in 1456.