The Cloth Hall is a large cloth hall, a medieval commercial building, in Ypres, Belgium. The original structure was erected mainly between 1200 and 1304, in the Gothic style. It was one of the largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages, when it served as the main market and warehouse for the Flemish city's prosperous cloth industry. At 125 metres (410 ft) in breadth, with a 70 metres (230 ft)-high belfry tower, it recalls the importance and wealth of the medieval trade city.
Ypres Cloth Hall seen from the Grote Markt
The Cloth Hall c. 1860, showing the original medieval building before World War I
Aerial view during the war. The destruction is not over at this point.
The ruined city centre with the hall and the cathedral at the end of the war
A cloth hall or linen hall is a historic building located in the centre of the main marketplace of a European town. Cloth halls were built from medieval times into the 18th century.
Ypres Broadcloth Hall
Tournai Cloth Hall
Former cloth hall and later town hall of Antoing
Piece Hall (cloth hall), Halifax, England