"Tournai, a powerful episcopal city in the county of Flanders, naturally fits in as the first major rallying point for pilgrims from the North who reach Vézelay or Tours on their way down to Compostela.
The great era of the pilgrimage to Compostela was the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. There were no less than 500,000 pilgrims per year! Tournai has a church under the patronage of Saint-Jacques. On the remains of a Romanesque sanctuary, it was built in the 13th and 15th centuries in Tournaisian Gothic style.
In 2005, the Belgian association of "Friends of Saint-Jacques" placed copper shells on the sidewalks which form a circuit going from the Pont des Trous to the Chaussée d'Antoing, passing through the main streets. monuments dedicated to the famous saint.
Historically, Tournai has seen pilgrims pass by, going to Santiago de Compostela, descending from northern Europe and Flanders: its Saint-Jacques church, an exceptional heritage in Wallonia, testifies to this Jacques-Cartier continuity.
The church of Saint-Jacques is located on the road which leads, in the Middle Ages, the pilgrims of Flanders to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. It is for this reason that it is speculated that its vast forepart may have been designed to accommodate pilgrims at night.
Simple Romanesque chapel at the base, the building was completely rebuilt in the 13th century in the Gothic style to give rise to a tower and a magnificent nave. Indeed, this one is adorned with a double gallery: the first constitutes the triforium; the second, opening on the outside, returns to the nave in the form of a bridge thrown in front of the crossing of the transept.
In the 14th century, a choir, construction of which began in 1368, was added to the building.
The walls and vaults of the chapels erected on either side of the choir are decorated with murals. On those in the south there are notably beautiful musical angels. These rich decorations attracted the fury of the iconoclasts in 1566 and that is why it was completely ravaged by this time. It rose from its ruins thanks to the zeal of two great brotherhoods: that of the Holy Spirit and that of the Holy Sacrament.
In the 19th century, it was completely restored under the inspiration of Baron Béthume. It was at this time that the choir vitals were placed, which can still be admired in the church."