The present Lier Town Hall is the former clothmakers’ hall. In 1740 architect Jan Pieter de Bauerscheit the Younger substantially renovated the building, converting it into Brabant rococo style. It was designed as a large mansion adjacent to the Gothic Belfry. The council chamber is in Louis XV style. Special features worthy of note are the elegant oak spiral staircase, the painted ceiling in the council chamber, the wrought-iron work of art 'Fighting the Dragon' by Louis van Boeckel and a large collection of paintings and antiques.
In 1369 Hendrik Mijs built a Gothic belfry next to the clothmakers' hall. It stands as a symbol of freedom and independance. In the Middle Ages the town’s deeds and freedoms were kept in the belfries, as was the arsenal, and the town council’s assembly room was also to be found there.
Since 1971 the tower has housed a small automatic carillon with 23 bells. Together with 23 other belfries the Lier belfry was recognised by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1999.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).