Cloth Hall, Ypres

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The Cloth Hall, Ypres

The Cloth Hall (Dutch: Lakenhal or Lakenhalle), of Ypres, Belgium, was one of the largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages, and served as a marketplace and warehouse for the Flemish city's prosperous cloth trade. The original structure, erected mainly in the 13th century and completed 1304, lay in ruins after the Germans devastated Ypres in World War I. Between 1933 and 1967, the hall was meticulously reconstructed to its prewar condition, under the guidance of architects J. Coomans and P.A. Pauwels. At 125 meters in breadth, with a 70-meter-high belfry tower, the Cloth Hall recalls the importance and wealth of the medieval trade city.

The Cloth Hall during World War I

Along the front of the edifice are 48 tall pointed arches, alternately enclosing windows and blind niches. Before the Great War, these niches enframed a great number of life-size statues of historical personages, counts and countesses of Flanders. Today there are only a few statues, including those of Count Baldwin IX of Flanders and Mary of Champagne, legendary founders of the building, and those of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth, under whose reign the reconstruction took place. Situated between these two couples, directly above the central archway entrance or Donkerpoort, is a statue of Our Lady of Thuyne, the patron of Ypres.

The impressive belfry, capped with four turrets and a spire, encloses a carillon with 49 bells. From a pole atop the spire a gilded dragon overlooks the city. The tower offers a splendid view of the surroundings, and was indeed used as a watchtower in centuries past. It has also housed the town archives, a treasury, an armory and a prison. In less enlightened times, cats, then associated in some way with black magic, were thrown off the belfry for reasons that are not clearly understood. Today, this act is commemorated every three years with a Cat Festival, during which a jester tosses stuffed toy felines from the tower.

The Ieperlee waterway, now covered, formerly came up to the building so that boats could load and unload their cargoes. The spacious ground-floor halls where wool and cloth were once sold are now used for exhibits; the second floor, formerly a warehouse, now hosts the "In Flanders Fields" museum, dedicated to the history of World War I.

Against the east face of the Cloth Hall stands the elegant Nieuwerck, whose Renaissance style contrasts markedly with the Gothic of the main building. Originally built between 1619 and 1622, and reconstructed after the war, this annex now serves as a town hall.