St John's Seven Kings: Day Trip to Veurne

Veurne is 'a charming market town just 7km inland by road and rail from De Panne.' The Grote Markt is 'one of the best-preserved town squares in Belgium.' 'All of Veurne’s leading sights are on or around the Grote Markt, beginning in the northwest corner with the Stadhuis, an engaging mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles built between 1596 and 1612 and equipped with a fine blue-and-gold decorated stone loggia projecting from the original brick facade ... The Stadhuis connects with the more austere classicism of the Gerechtshof (Law Courts), whose symmetrical pillars and long, rectangular windows now hold the tourist office, but once sheltered the Inquisition as it set about the Flemish peasantry with gusto. The attached tiered and balconied Belfort (belfry; no public access) was completed in 1628, its Gothic lines culminating in a dainty Baroque tower, from where carillon concerts ring out over the town throughout the summer.

Behind the Belfort is St-Walburgakerk, a replacement for the original church that Robert II of Flanders caught sight of, but which was burnt to a cinder in 1353. The new church was begun in style with a mighty, heavily buttressed choir, but the money ran out when the builders reached the transepts and the nave – a truncated affair if ever there was one – was only finished off in 1904. The interior has three virtues: the ornately carved Flemish Renaissance choir stalls; a handsome set of stained-glass windows, some Gothic, some neo-Gothic; and the superb stonework of the tubular, composite columns at the central crossing.'

'Saint Nicholas Church is the culmination of several previous places of worship, the first of which is thought to have been built on this site in the 11th Century. This fine looking piece of religious architecture mainly dates from the 15th Century and towers above the locality, dwarfing the secular buildings that surround with majestic charm.'

Emergent is a gallery providing space for contemporary art in Veurne, which has been initiated by curator Frank Maes. The current exhibition features work by Marcel Berlanger, Emanuelle Quertain, MER Station 7 - Sebastien Capouet and Kristien Daem.

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Jon Foreman - The Cure For Pain.