Nieuwpoort's Belfry and Grain Hall form the town's key civic landmark, rooted in the medieval trading life of Flanders. Like much of the town, the complex suffered badly in the First World War and was rebuilt, which makes it both a heritage site and a marker of recovery.
The belfry belongs to the wider UNESCO listing of belfries in Belgium and France, a network of towers that expressed municipal power rather than church authority. In Nieuwpoort it is best seen with the market square and war-history sites, where civic pride and destruction sit close together.