page_title: Tongeren
section_title: Main sights
hierarchical_section_title: Tongeren / Main sights
caption_attribution_description: Baslica Tongeren Belgium
context_page_description: Tongeren is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the only Roman administrative capital within the country's borders. As a Roman city, it was inhabited by the Tungri, and known as Atuatuca Tungrorum, it was the administrative centre of the Civitas Tungrorum district. The city is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.
context_section_description: The Béguinage, founded in 1257, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. Its enclosure wall was destroyed in the nineteenth century: it separated the beguinage from the rest of the city and thus guaranteed peace and quiet for the small religion-inspired community.  In the seventeenth century the beguinage counted some 300 beguines; it was also able to survive the 1677 fire that destroyed most of the city.
  The Tongeren Basilica (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe Basiliek), built in Gothic style in the thirteenth century, where recent excavations have produced some of the richest archaeological finds in Flanders. Archaeological excavations have proven the presence of an edifice here starting from the fourth century, while a  Carolingian prayer house existed here in the ninth century. The building of the choir of the present basilica began in 1240. Nave, transepts and side chapels were added between the thirteenth and fifteenth century. The original Romanesque tower was replaced by the present, 64-metre-tall (210-foot) Gothic tower from 1442 until 1541. The basilica's interior is home to the statue of Our Lady of Tongeren, erected in 1475. The treasury is housed in the former hall of the Chapter and comprises one of the richest collections of religious art in Belgium.
  Church of St. Catherine, built in Gothic style in 1294 but modified later in different styles. Works of art include the 1711 pulpit by Robrecht Verburgh, the main altarpiece by Gaspar de Crayer (17th century) and a sculpture of the "Suffering Christ", donated by the beguine Anna de Floz.
  The Gallo-Roman Museum, which houses Celtic gold, Roman glassware, Merovingian filigree work, and a Roman dodecahedron, an unusual Gallo-Roman object found during excavations
  The original Roman wall, dating from the second century, still visible for more than 1,500 metres (4,900 feet).
  Some of the medieval defensive towers, also still visible today.
  Statue of Ambiorix, erected in 1866.
  Several Tumuli are found around the city.
  The Pliniuspark features the Plinius spring, a natural spring described by Pliny the Elder in 77-79 a.d.
  At the location of a former Roman temple in the Keverstraat, a modern representation of that temple can be found. Because no drawings, apart from the floor plans, of the original temple exist, everything has been rebuilt up to 1 meter high.
  Partly 3 meters below the Basilica of Our Lady and partly inside the Basilica, the Teseum-museum shows the archaeological findings at the location of the Basilica, as well as exhibitions about the history of the church.
  Tongeren houses a youth detention center.
caption: The Tongeren Basilica
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