Famenne Tower

A tower over 60 meters tall, 244 steps up the fire escape, and a dance hall, café, and restaurant spread over three floors. Abandoned for decades, the Tour de la Famenne seemed doomed for a long time, before finding a new lease on life…

The History of the Famenne Tower

Built in 1970 along the N4, the Famenne Tower opened to the public in 1973. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1980s thanks to its revolving restaurant, which offered guests a 360-degree panoramic view of the Famenne River and the gateway to the Ardennes. The restaurant closed around 1990, and the tower then entered a long period of neglect.

With no sign of life from its owner, the “sky louse” has been deteriorating year after year. A safety net even had to be installed around the top, as pieces of glass were regularly falling onto the parking lot of the neighboring restaurant. The town wavered for a long time between demolishing the tower and preserving a landmark to which residents remained deeply attached. In 2015, a Dutch entrepreneurial couple bought the tower with the ambition of restoring it to its former glory, but the project remained on hold.

It was ultimately the Ardent Group that saved it: in exchange for permission to open an arcade at the base of the tower, the group financed its renovation. Work began in 2019; the top was dismantled and replaced with a new spire, and the tower reopened to the public in 2021 under the name Tour Circus de la Famenne. Although its appearance has changed, it once again offers panoramic views from three observation decks. To learn everything about the current visit, visit Belgique Insolite.

Our Visit

An open door, and there we were on the ground floor, in a former game room that was now empty. No way were we going to linger there: the room was visible from the parking lot, which is still used by the neighboring restaurant. An elevator was waiting there, but we didn’t want to tempt fate. We’d take the stairs.

244 steps later (we counted them), we reached the top without even knowing if the entrance would be open. As luck would have it, it was. About fifty meters above the ground, out of sight, we were able to explore the place at our leisure and enjoy the view that had made the tower famous.

Once back down, we finished up with a few photos from the outside—the safest option in case we were caught. That’s when the owner of the neighboring restaurant, who had just stepped outside, called out to us, “You have to pay!” Whether it was a joke or not, we never found out. With our exploration over, we responded with a burst of laughter before hitting the road again. Ironically, since it reopened, you actually have to pay to go up…