Available LanguagesLanguage En Kortrijk - The Banque de CourtraiThe start of Kortrijk industrial capitalism: the Banque de Courtrai. In 1873 the Banque de Courtrai S.A. Founded under the chairmanship of the brewer's son, lawyer and politician Pieter Tack, who for a short time was also the Belgian finance minister. Its links with the powerful bank holding ‘Société Générale de Belgique’ are not clear, but in those years the latter established many local and regional banks, to attract local savings which they could invest in the rapid industrialisation of the country. Anyhow, at the beginning of the 20th c. the Société Générale was one of the main shareholders, and after the ‘Banque de Courtrai’ absorbed a series of other local West-Flemish banks, she was swallowed by the Société Générale de Belgique in 1935. In 1965 the Société Générale was taken over by Fortis in 1998, which in its turn after the banking crisis of 2008 by BNP Paribas. The new building erected 1922 were heavily damaged by the Allied bombings of the town on the 21st of July 1944. It was reconstructed after the war. On the side wall of the BNP Paribas bank one can remark two war memorial plaques, one for the employees of the Banque de Courtrai killed in the First War, a sec one for the employees of the Société Générale killed in the Second War. Gallery:
Typology: Walk Travel time: 3 h Route Difficulty: Easy Places to visit Alternative activities Hotel and Restaurantes Places to visitAlternative activities Hotel and Restaurantes Alternative Activities Kortrijk - Soetens Molen Wervik - Brieken-windmill Menen - Saint Johns Mill Flax retting and scutching site D’hondt at Menen Kortrijk railway station and the new town planning Bissegem - centre of flax retting and scutching Wervik - National Tobacco Museum Menen - The old ‘new’ locks Bousbecque - Paper mill Dalle & Lecompte Kortrijk - The Banque de Courtrai Menen - Windmill ‘De Goede Hoop’ Kortrijk - Blanchisserie de Courtrai Menen - Brewer’s House Les Trois Rois Kortrijk - The Buda Island & Factory Wevelgem - Old workshop op Eugène Baekelandt Menen -The Tobacco factory Kortrijk - Europaspinnerij Menen - French custom house Kortrijk - The Texture-museum Wevelgem - The ‘Groot Volander’ flax farm Kortrijk - Remains of the Flax spinning mill ‘De Kien’ Menen - Old Leie and new Leie Comines - The Railway station Kortrijk - Tuileries du Littoral Wevelgem Airport Place to visit Kortrijk - Texture, museum over Leie en vlas Kortrijk Menen Wevelgem Comines Comines - Musée de la Rubanerie Cominoise Wervik EXPLORE THE STAGES OF THE ITINERARY Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5 day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 Every dayDay 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5 Apply