Tournai, also Tournay (Dutch Doornik), city in southwestern Belgium, in the province of Hainault, on the Schelde River, also called the Escaut River. Noted for the manufacture of carpets and textiles, Tournai also has plants producing steel, cement, textile machinery, electric motors, and diesel engines. Its most famous edifice is the 11th-century Cathedral of Nôtre Dame, with a pointed Gothic choir completed in the 14th century. The cathedral is one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Northern Europe. Other noteworthy buildings include a belfry, the oldest in Belgium, built in 1187 and restored in the 19th century; the Church of Saint Quentin, rebuilt several times since it was created in the 12th century; and the Church of Saint Brice, containing the tomb of Childeric I, a 5th-century king of the Franks, in which 300 gold models of bees were discovered.
The site of the Roman Civitas Nerviorum or Turnacum, Tournai is one of the oldest settlements of Belgium. In the 5th century the Merovingian kings made the town their royal residence. Tournai was at various times in the possession of the Netherlands, Spain, and France, the last relinquishing its control in 1748. In World War II (1939-1945), during the 1940 German invasion of Belgium, Tournai was partly destroyed. Population (1998 estimate) 67,651.
