SAINT-URSMER COLLEGIATE

It is quite simply the oldest church in Belgium, the only one in the country dating mainly from the Carolingian period! The collegiate church, built between 819 and 823 and classified by Unesco for this reason, owes its name to Saint Ursmer, successor of the founder of the Abbey of Aulne, who had it built following the ban on burying religious in the abbey church. The most interesting part is undoubtedly the crypt. In addition to funeral slabs and an altar, there are the sarcophagi of the holy founders (Ursmer and Ermin) and a well whose water is said to have healing properties. Altered several times over the centuries, which somewhat altered its Romanesque character, the Collegiate Church of Saint-Ursmer underwent a major renovation in the mid-19th century (1865) by the architect Carpentier. The latter added a central arrow at the crossing of the transept. This aesthetic artifice, pleasant at the time, is now widely controversial. The building houses a copy of the famous Lobbes Bible, a work (dated 1084) particularly remarkable for its illuminations and kept in the museum of the Seminary of Tournai.

The Jardin de Folcuin, medieval but rehabilitated at the end of the 20th century, is today managed by a non-profit association of enthusiasts who grow many plants in squares reminiscent of the original plan. A festival is organised there every year (early June), highlighting biodiversity and the work of the bees. In addition to a few horticultural exhibitors, a guinguette brings the site to life by recalling the Middle Ages.