2393, 2882 FRANCE (Hauts-de-France) - Nord department

2393 Nord department

Posted on 21.03.2016, 26.11.2016
Since 2016 part of the Hauts-de-France region, Nord department is situated in the north of the country along the western half of the Belgian frontier. The majority of the region was once part of the historical Netherlands, but gradually became part of France between 1477 and 1678. Within the department is located the part of France where the French Flemish dialect of Dutch is still spoken (along with French) as a native language. Unusually long and narrow, it is the country's most populous department.

2882 Nord coast

Its coast begins in south with Gravelines and ends to Bray-Dunes, on Belgian border, and is part of Côte d'Opale, which continues in south up to Picardy Coast. The North Sea resort of Les Dunes de Flandre, stretching from Dunkirk to Bray-Dunes, has a 15km long barrier beach of fine sand flanked by an impressive area of dunes. To note are the museums and belfry in Dunkirk, the Art Deco villas on the Malo-les-Bains seafront, the kite park with its three kite surfing schools, and land yachting and sailing in Bray-Dunes.

2880 FRANCE (Hauts-de-France) - Compiègne

2880 Hôtel de Ville Square in Compiègne

A former imperial city, today just a commune located at the confluence of the Aisne and Oise rivers, at about 90km North from Paris, Compiègne played a major role not only in French history, but also in European history. Of Roman origin, it was referred to in 557 as Compendium, a name derived from a word meaning "short cut" (between Beauvais and Soissons). The town flourished in the Middle Ages and was the site of assemblies and councils under the Merovingian kings.

2248 FRANCE (Hauts-de-France) - Picardy Coast

The Picardy Coast stretches 60 km from the mouth of the Bresle in the south to where the Authie flows into the sea in the north, and set between them, the estuary of the Somme River or Bay of Somme. The sea air often casts a delicate veil across the sky, giving the light in this region a very special quality, much prized by artists. The high chalk cliffs give way to pebble beaches as Cayeux-sur-Mer, then dunes and finally marshland. Behind the coast, the rolling hills and laughing valleys preserve a rich heritage.

1692 FRANCE (Hauts-de-France) - Tour du Guet in Calais in 1906

Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34km wide here, and is the closest French town to England. Due to its position, Calais since the Middle Ages has been a major port and a very important centre for transport and trading with England. It was a territorial possession of England between 1347 and 1558. The old part of the town, Calais proper (known as Calais-Nord), is situated on an artificial island surrounded by canals and harbours. In its centre is the Place d'Armes, in which stands the Tour du Guet, or watch-tower, a structure built in 1214, when Philip I, Count of Boulogne built fortifications in the town.

1636 FRANCE (Hauts-de-France) / BELGIUM - Belfries of Belgium and France (UNESCO WHS)

1636 Belfries of Belgium and France (UNESCO WHS)

 

The Belfries of Belgium and France are a group of 56 historical buildings designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, in recognition of an architectural manifestation of emerging civic independence from feudal and religious influences in historic Flanders and neighboring regions of the Duchy of Burgundy. UNESCO inscribed 32 towers onto its list of Belfries of Flanders and Wallonia in 1999, and in 2005, the belfry of Gembloux in the Walloon Region of Belgium and 23 belfries from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions in the northern tip of France were appended to the renamed list.

0697 FRANCE (Hauts-de-France) - Belfry of the St. Eligius Church of Dunkirk - part of Belfries of Belgium and France (UNESCO WHS)

Dunkirk - The Belfry of the St. Eligius Church

While Italian, German and English towns opted to build town halls, in north-western Europe greater emphasis was placed, in Middle Ages and in Early Modern Period, on building belfries. If the keep was the symbol of the seigneurs, and the bell-tower the symbol of the Church, the belfry symbolized the power of the aldermen, reaching to represent the influence and wealth of the towns. In Dunkirk, a commune in northern France, 10km from the Belgian border (known for the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from its beaches and harbour in 1940), there are two such belfries, the Belfry of the City Hall and the Belfry of the St. Eligius Church. The last one (from the postcard) is a brick construction with 58m hight, decorated with Gothic styles arches, which goes back to 1450.