Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 57. Chapters: Mons, Leuven, Bruges, Grand Place, Veurne, Tielt, Diksmuide, Mechelen, Roeselare, Aalst, Belgium, Dendermonde, Turnhout, Eeklo, Oudenaarde, Namur, La Louviere, Tournai, Charleroi, Belfries of Belgium and France, Grand Beguinage, Leuven, Tongeren, Saint-Gilles, Belgium, Sint-Truiden, Hotel Tassel, Thuin, Stoclet Palace, Tournai Cathedral, Hotel van Eetvelde, Lifts on the old Canal du Centre, Plantin-Moretus Museum, Hotel Solvay, Horta Museum, Spiennes, Belfry of Tournai. Excerpt: Mons (French pronunciation: Dutch and German: Bergen; Picard: Mont) is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flenu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour (partly), Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havre, Maisieres, Mesvin, Nouvelles, Saint-Denis, Saint-Symphorien, Spiennes, Villers-Saint-Ghislain, Casteau (partly), Masnuy-Saint-Jean (partly), and Ville-sur-Haine (partly). Together with the Czech city of Plze, Mons was selected to be the European capital of culture in 2015. The Sainte Waudru collegiate church and the belfry.The first signs of activity in the region of Mons can be found at Spiennes, where some of the best flint tools in Europe were found dating from the Neolithic period. When Julius Caesar arrived in the region in the 1st century BC, the region was settled by the Nervii. A castrum was built in Roman times, giving the settlement its first Latin name Castrilocus; the name was later changed into Montes for the hills on which the castrum was built. In the 7th century, Saint Ghislain and two of his disciples built an oratory or chapel dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul near the Mons hill, at a place called Ursidongus, now known as Saint-Ghislain. Soon after, Saint Waltrude (in French Sainte Waudru), dau...