The ruined facade of this famous abbey is visible for miles around, and forms a significant…read morelandmark on the plains north of Arras. Access is via a lane off the D341 road north of Arras. According to legend, St Eloi, bishop of Tournai and Noyon, founded a community here in the 7th century. One of his disciples, Saint Vindicien, Bishop of Arras and Cambrai, was buried on this spot and a shrine and monastic community became established around his relics. Around 1208, the Abbot Richard rebuilt the church in the latest gothic style, and on a grand scale. In 1750, work began to remodel the abbey in the classical style, but alas it all came to nothing when the French Revolution resulted in its closure in 1791 - its last Abbot suffering the humiliation of the guillotine. Fortuntately, the Civic authorities of the Department acted to preserve the facade when the rest of the church was demolished in 1836. Tragically, the towers were used as a look-out post in the First World War, and suffered from bombardment and the loss of their upper storeys in 1915. Nevertheless, the remains are still impressive, if only by virtue of their size and location, and it makes for a wonderful detour from the D341 to admire the views of the surrounding countryside. When we visited, the ruins were surrounded by an extraordinarily large number of ducks: destined, no doubt, for some splendid culinary fate...

This church definitely has an interesting history behind it. Basically it was just behind the front…read morelines during World War I, and in the initial stages of the war a shell hit the tower causing it to lean, but not quite topple. As such, the soldiers would walk under the tower on the way to the front, and the statue of Mary on the top leant precariously over the road. Well, being the superstitious lot they were, the not only believed that they would be blessed if they walked under her, but that when the tower finally toppled, then the war would come to an end. Why they didn't attempt to prematurely topple it is beyond me, but then again that is superstition for you.

From the owner: En plein centre Cette église de style gothique fut édifié en cinq siècles! Elle est composée de…read morecinq nefs de hauteur égale (ce qui est rare)et ornée d'une dizaine de toiles de dimension importante de Van Oost et d'une petite toile anonyme plus ancienne représentant Saint Maurice.

St. Bavo's Cathedral was the must stop for me in Ghent to see the Adoration of the Lamb altarpiece…read morepainted by Jan Van Eck. The only way to view it required a 12.5E admission which gained entrance to the rear of the cathedral. The altarpiece was located behind a glass enclosure not only to protect it from the environment but also prevent any more thefts. Most of the altarpiece appeared in vivid colors and in great detail from the recently completed restoration of the lower panels. The top panels were high resolution copies (you can see the originals still being restored at the Museum of Fine Arts - MSK). Don't just look at the front but also circle around to the sides to see more paintings. Those would be shown in front when the altarpiece sides were swung shut. Another masterpiece located in the rear was the Conversion of St. Bavo by another great artist, Peter Paul Ruebens. St. Bavo is the patron saint of Ghent. The rest of the cathedral was admission free to wander and other items of interest were the statue of Father Damiaan and the very detailed carved pulpit.

Really pretty church in Ghent that's pretty centrally located. Lots of beautiful intricate details…read moreinside. Free to walk inside and look around but a paid ticket is required to view the famous Ghent Altarpiece (The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) and the accompanying Augmented Reality (AR) tour.

After we had dropped off our bags we decided to go for a bit of a wander around Lille and, and we…read morehad previously walked past this rather large church so we decided to step inside to have a look around. Well, as you can expect this place was pretty impressive, but then again this is something that I have basically come to expect of most churches in on the continent, especially the larger ones. In a way this was similar to many of the other cathedrals that I had wondered into, but that didn't mean that it was any less stunning. Like many of these older Cathedrals the architecture was stunning, as was the interior art and decorations. It was a fantastic place to spend some time.

From the owner: Au C'ur de la ville 'uvre de Jules Batigny, cette église catholique fut construite entre 1875 et…read more1926. A l'intérieur, on peut notamment admirer une splendide chaire et, dans la chapelle inaugurée en juin 1890, de magnifiques vitraux classés monuments historiques, exécutés à Chartres d'après les dessins du peintre valenciennois H.Crauck.