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Schaerbeek (French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and S ...

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Brussels-Capital Region Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

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Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

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Jozef De Kesel Jozef De Kesel (born 17 June 1947) is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been a cardinal since 2016 and Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels since 2015. He served as Bishop of Bruges from 2010 to 2015. Early life De Kesel was b ...

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parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

located on the / in the

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

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, Belgium. Officially dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, it is popularly associated with Queen Louise-Marie, first Queen of the Belgians, as is the square where it is located, which earned it the title of "Royal". This site is served by the Botanique/Kruidtuin metro station on lines 2 and 6 of the

Brussels Metro The Brussels Metro (french: Métro de Bruxelles, nl, Brusselse metro) is a rapid transit system serving a large part of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It consists of four conventional metro lines and three ''premetro'' lines. The me ...

History

Construction

The building was designed by the architect Henri Désiré Louis Van Overstraeten and built between 1845 and 1888 in an eclectic style combining

neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

and

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

elements with influences from

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and

Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome ...

. Following Van Overstraeten's death in 1849, his father-in-law Louis Roelandt took over the management of the works, then the architect Gustave Hansotte after Roelandt's passing in 1864. The windows were designed and created by the stained glass artist Jean-Baptiste Capronnier (1814–1891). Although unfinished, the church was opened to worship on 15 August 1853. After Hansotte's death in 1866, the architects François Thomisse and Alexandre Struyven took over as directors of the site. The final acceptance of the completion works takes place on 11 January 1888. A long period of interior fittings then began, which continued well beyond the solemn consecration of the church, which took place on 14 October 1902, feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, by the archbishop of Mechelen Cardinal Goossens.

Repairs and protection

As early as 1870, the building required expensive repairs to remedy rainwater infiltration generated by repeated work interruptions. Despite punctual restoration work over the next seventy years, the deterioration continued after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Following the fall of several stones on the street below it in 1963, the crown of the tower attached to the side of the church, designed by Hansotte, was demolished, and the church was ultimately closed in 1965, its condition considered too dangerous. The building received protected status through a

royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

issued on 9 November 1976. It was the subject of a restoration campaign from 1982 to 1996. A fire that occurred on 8 September 1985, however, destroyed the already restored dome and roofs and abruptly interrupted the works. The restoration restarted in 1992 and ended in 1994, and the church finally reopened on 17 April 1996.

Description

Structurally, the body of the church is an octagon, the southern side of which opens onto the

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

, and the northern side onto a rectangle which receives, in elevated form, the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

, and in the basement, a large crypt. Eight pillars around the perimeter of an inner circle in diameter form the framework of the building. A

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

encircles this circular nave. Six chapels occupy the other sides of the octagon. The pillars are linked to each other by

horseshoe arch The horseshoe arch (; Spanish: "arco de herradura"), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is an emblematic arch of Islamic architecture, especially Moorish architecture. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form. Hi ...

es. A staircase leads up to the sanctuary. To the right and left of the stairs, walking two flights down to the Romanesque-style crypt, with, on the lower floor, a "sub-crypt". File:Brussel-Schaerbeek, église Royale Sainte-Marie oeg2264-00030 foto5 2015-06-07 14.46.jpg, The church from the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat in nearby Saint-Josse-ten-Noode File:St.Mary's Church in Brussels.jpg, View of the church by night File:JP2016 234.jpg, Inside view File:Église Royale Ste-Marie-Schaerbeek-chaire.jpeg, The pulpit File:Église Royale Ste-Marie-Schaerbeek-retable(gauche).jpeg, The

retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...

References

Explanatory notes

Notes

Bibliography

* Louis van Overstraeten, ''Architectonographie des Temples chrétiens'', Mechelen, 1850. * Jean Delsaux, ''L'église Ste-Marie à Bruxelles, une œuvre d'une ferveur et d'une probité artistique exceptionnelles'', "Les Amis de l'église Ste-Marie, s. d., Brussels, 1968

External links

Phillips: Sainte-Marie Royal Church

Schaarbeek.be: Sinte-Mariakerk
(Dutch/Flemish) {{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Brussels Schaerbeek Protected heritage sites in Brussels Churches completed in 1885 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Belgium Eclectic architecture Church buildings with domes