the gothic cloth hall of Ypres Photo

Photographer’s Note

The truly gigantic cloth hall overlooks the Market Square, the political and economic heart of Ypres. This most beautiful and imposing medieval cloth hall of Flanders was carefully rebuilt after its destruction in the Great War. In the past the building was used as a covered market hall for the famous cloth of Ypres, the product on which the success of the city's economy was based.

The eastern wing and the belfry tower were built as from 1260, the western wing and the side wing followed in 1286. By 1304 the cloth hall was completed. The main façade is 125 m long. On both ends two slender little towers can be seen. In the middle arises the imposing belfry tower with a height of 70 m and a carillon with 49 bells. From the top, when the weather is nice you can have a beautiful view over the surrounding area.

Several statues decorate the facade of the cloth hall. A lot of the original statues did not survive the war. There are also statues of King Albert I and his wife Queen Elisabeth who opened the reconstructed belfry tower in 1934. In and around the cloth hall a lot of remaining old statues and parts of the original building can be seen.

After the destruction of Ypres in the First World War, the town hall was meticulously reconstructed from 1934 until 1958 by the architects Coomans and Pauwels, who followed as closely as possible the original plan. Inside the Cloth Hall is now the Flanders Fields Museum.

Budapestman, Jeppo, thor68, paololg, saxo042, alvaraalto, bukitgolfb301, Cricri, cbrman, stego, Cretense, bona, Charo, gunbud, lctan, AiresSantos, shevchenko, Uhu, npecanhuk, phwall, BeBeHooker has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Budapestman (41066) 2009-06-20 1:55

Hi Paul,
Amazing architectural photo with ornate details and spectacular composition, excelent depth and clarity. Tfs! Have a nice weekend!
George

elkab (3324) 2009-06-20 1:59

Hi!
Beautiful architecture very well presented. I like long perspective here and atmospher created by limited light and colours. Very well done!
regards
elizabeth

Jeppo (11624) 2009-06-20 2:13

excellent POV to capture this magnificient cathedral and excellent note as well to know more about it.

it's good to see such a pleasant scene with people strolling next to the cathedral....in a place we all know for the dramatic events in IWW

tfs
silvio

paololg (13248) 2009-06-20 5:39

Ciao dear Paul,
excellent depth of field that allows us to appreciate the majesty of this building and all its beauty. The scene is pleasantly animated from the people and from the man in bicycle in the FG. Really a good work, compliments!
Ciao, have a nice week end!
Paolo

saxo042 (15160) 2009-06-20 11:42

Hi Paul,
Very fine colours and an excellent sharpness. This is also a very good composition with a "painted" feeling. I like the light here!
Kind regards
Gunnar

alvaraalto (5227) 2009-06-20 14:07

Dag Paul,

Een fraai hoogtepunt van de Vlaamse bouwkunst. Mooi in beeld gebracht en het is bijzonder te zien hoe de lucht zijn kleuren heeft afgestemd op het gebouw.

groet Rob

bukitgolfb301 (4433) 2009-06-20 16:09

Hello my dear Paul

What a great and dignity shot ! The composition, framework, and thick calm majesty color tone are splendid. Also light management is very very beautiful, I like very much.
Congratulation on your great job !

Thanks for sharing and best regrds

Takero

rodgerg (23151) 2009-06-21 1:14

Bonjour Paul,

Une très belle présentation du riche passé d'Ypres. Le POV est très bien choisi et provoque une belle perspective. Les détails architecturaux sont bien captés et l'iamge est pleine de vie avec les passants et les cyclistes.
Bon dimanche,
Roger

ghilain (1714) 2009-06-21 3:29

Hello Paul,

Very nice perspective on this beautiful and famous hall!
A great wealth of Flanders!
Excellent POV,

Have a nice day

brigitte

Cricri (42853) 2009-06-21 4:56

Bonjour Paul
Un bon choix de l'angle qui donne une très belle perspective et un cadrage au top de cette grande et intéressante architecture
Good sunday
cricri

cbrman (18697) 2009-06-21 5:57

Hello Paul,

Un étonnant bâtiment plein de perspectives.
Cette vue semble être le résultat d'un HDR. L'image ressemble presque à une peinture. Le travail de PP a du être conséquent. La saturation des rouges est peut-être un peu excessive mais le résultat global est assez sympa.
A+

Dominique

stego (22336) 2009-06-21 9:43

Hi Paul,
Now I see where the architects of the British Parliament inspired themselves! It's a gorgeous presentation of this impressive monument. You choose the POV very well and the perspective is just perfect. I know that grey skies like this aren't too popular, but I actually like it here, as it seems to match the grey parts of the walls, as the orange spot on the bottom matches the more yellow parts of the building.
Regards,
José

Cretense (54926) 2009-06-22 5:17

Hello Paul!

Excellent architecture photo, very impressive gothic building! Perfect POV, excellent diagonal perspective, great framing and composition! Flawless light managment, beautiuful colours! Amazing definition, countless wonderful details! Congratulations!

Hercules

bona (2081) 2009-06-22 9:59

Thi building is very big! I like the people there giving a nice ideia the dimesions of it.
I cant' see any shadow here and it is very strange indeed.
Good POV.
Andre

mauro61 (14702) 2009-06-22 10:06

ciao Paul,
bella questa lunga prospettiva sul magnifico edificio.
Mi piace la gestione delle luci e la resa cromatica della foto con una bella colorazione del cielo sullo sfondo.
saluti
maurizio

Fotocop (237) 2009-06-22 10:15

Hello Paul,
very interesting your capability to estract the grey from the grey. A 3-D image, and very sharp.
Ciao, Elena

Fis2 (45250) 2009-06-22 11:21

Witaj Paul!
Wow fantastic object, wonderful gothic architecture.
I like the frame and perspective.
A very curious colours.
Well done.
Regards
Krzysztof

maximage (13261) 2009-06-22 13:26

Bonjour Paul,
Une construction grandiose et une architecture magnifique que tu as super bien capturé avec une excellente perspective! Je ne connaissais pas. Merci pour le partage.
Amitiés.
max

Charo (31651) 2009-06-22 16:59

Hello Paul,
Impressive view of this vast and magnificent building, Gothic architecture is beautiful. People walking in the square give us good information on its scale. Great job!
Best wishes,
Charo

gunbud (27559) 2009-06-22 17:38

Hi Paul,
What a lovely wide view of this fantastic Belgium architecture you have captured here.
All the intricate details of the old catherdral are clear seen as its stands out beautifully against the silver-blue sky.
Regards, Tom

lctan (1053) 2009-06-22 18:30 [Comment]

Show Comment

AiresSantos (41418) 2009-06-22 23:22

Hi Paul
As big as wonderful this building in Ypres.
I like a lot your POV and diagonal.Beautiful arcgitecture.
Amazing colours and fine light management
TFS and have a nice day
Aires

danyy (68040) 2009-06-22 23:44

Bonjour Paul,
voilà) de l'excellent travail de composition architectural sans l'ombre d'une distortion avec avec une telle netteté. J'aime beaucou aussi la profondeur liée à la perspective et la douceur des lumioères et des teintes.
Bien amicalement
Daniel.

darek1978 (11143) 2009-06-24 8:50

Hi Paul,
The architecture shown in here is truly beautiful, full of interesting details everywhere, all of them so well captured by you. Pretty adequate sharpness and exposure. Superb composition! It is a pleasure looking at this picture.
Best regards,
Darek

shevchenko (9756) 2009-06-24 20:06

Hello Paul,
Glad that this magnificent hall was rebuilt then we have chance to see it today, people here give an idea of the scale and size of the hall, tidy shoot to show it, nice soft color, thanks for sharing the historical hall.
Ally

Angshu (33324) 2009-06-24 20:41

Hello Paul
I had been to Ypres & had been marvelled by the majestic cloth hall as well. A fine picture here, in a diagonal which creates depth. The cloudy sky actually accentuates the golden tones on the clock. Good work & a fine note to accompany!
Regards
Angshu

Uhu (7334) 2009-06-25 7:31

High!
Truly imposing, and really beautiful place - and wonderful angle. As a result - it's a perfect photo!
Great contribution.

Tobias__Ortmann (2589) 2009-06-27 3:51

Hi paul,
I really like the light in this picture
great quality and depth as well.
I like this
Toba

jbemmels (327) 2009-07-05 11:56

This building looks just simply too massive for its location! I very much like the lighting - it's not very realistic, but works well with the subject.

Cheers!
Jordan

npecanhuk (13101) 2009-07-07 9:04

Hello Paul!
Truly magnificent building with astonishing beauty (awesome architectural details all over)! The biker gives me a good sense of scale and, man, that building is giant! It must be a thrill to see it personally! Anyways, your picture is excellent, with outstanding sharpness, exposure, depth of field, colors, pov and composition!
TFS - congratulations!
My warmest regards,
Neyvan

Silvio1953 (40881) 2009-07-10 8:52

Ciao Paul, fantastic perspective on wonderful building, splendid composition, very well done, have a good week end, ciao Silvio

barrufeto_77 (25619) 2009-07-13 14:05

Hi Paul.

Nice view but I'd clone the branches on the left maybe...

Rgs, Oscar

phwall (5424) 2009-07-17 16:40

Hello Paul,
An impressive capture of this remarkable building.
The detail is fantastic, incredible depth and clarity.
Simply stunning.
Regards
Peter

BeBeHooker (5068) 2009-07-20 1:47

Hi Paul!
Amazing cloth hall, amazing great architecture. Wonderful colors. Good capture.
Cheers!

jurek1951 (25732) 2009-07-26 4:07

Hi Paul,
Very interesting architecture. Original POV and composition. Very good shot. Well done
Georg