Twen­­ty-three bel­fries in the north of France and the bel­fry of Gem­bloux in Bel­gium were inscribed in 2005, as an exten­sion to the 32 Bel­gian bel­fries inscribed in 1999 as Bel­fries of Flan­ders and Wal­lo­nia. Built between the 11th and 17th cen­turies, they show­case the Roman, Goth­ic, Renais­sance and Baroque styles of archi­tec­ture. They are high­ly sig­nif­i­cant tokens of the win­ning of civ­il lib­er­ties. While Ital­ian, Ger­man and Eng­lish towns main­ly opt­ed to build town halls, in part of north-west­­ern Europe, greater empha­sis was placed on build­ing bel­fries. Com­pared with the keep (sym­bol of the seigneurs) and the bell-tow­er (sym­bol of the Church), the bel­fry, the third tow­er in the urban land­scape, sym­bol­izes the pow­er of the alder­men. Over the cen­turies, they came to rep­re­sent the influ­ence and wealth of the towns.