St. Jacob's Church Tournai

The Saint-Jacques Church, included in the exceptional real estate heritage of Wallonia, is located on one of the paths leading to Saint-Jacques de Compostela . The sanctuary rises along the path that leads from the county of Flanders to Compostela via Tournai, the episcopal metropolis.

The oldest part is the lower half of the tower of the early Romanesque church, built around 1150.

The nave, aisles and transept, dating from the first quarter of the 13th century, are typical examples of Tournai Gothic. The polygonal apse, begun in 1368, has a more classical style and is decorated with beautiful stained glass windows . The vault of the right side chapel is beautifully preserved and is decorated with 24 musical angels , painted in 1404.

In the 19th century, the church underwent a major restoration in which the large portal in front of the tower was replaced by a neo-Gothic construction.

The recent restoration, carried out from 2010 to 2012, made it possible to revive the church choir (replacement of defective stones, replacement of the roof, etc.). The stained glass windows were dismantled, carefully cleaned and replaced behind exterior glass, which now protected them from bad weather.

The main altar is decorated with an altarpiece whose shutters evoke episodes from the life of Saint James the Greater. It is the centerpiece of the neo-Gothic furniture with which the church was equipped at the end of the 19th century, according to the inscription of Baron de Béthune.

The exploitation of Tournai stone and its execution by stonemasons gave the local architecture its typical character, with its drum columns and capitals with rolled ribbed leaves , called hooks.

The organ stands on a Louis XV style buffet, decorated with trophies of musical instruments, dating from 1755. Like the church itself, this buffet is classified as exceptional heritage in the Walloon Region.

In the choir there is an eagle lectern from 1411 , one of the rare pieces of furniture that escaped the wrath of the iconoclasts who destroyed the church in 1566. It testifies to the know-how of the copper founders of Tournai.

The vaults of the right side chapel, painted in 1405, contain a choir of musical angels equipped with then well-known instruments: lute, harp, jig, bagpipes... They were restored in 1895 by the painter Jules Helbig.

In the portal, numerous gravestones have been replaced with epitaphs and coats of arms from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries . They remind us that St. Jacques Church was the sanctuary of one of the city's most aristocratic parishes.

Willem Vandenameele