Saint Mary's Royal Church (; ) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish church located on the / in

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

, a municipality of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, 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

Brussels-North railway station Brussels-North railway station (; ) is one of the three major railway stations in Brussels, Belgium; the other two are Brussels Central Station, Brussels-Central and Brussels-South railway station, Brussels-South. Every regular domestic and i ...

, as well as by

Botanique/Kruidtuin metro station ( French, ) or ( Dutch, ) is a Brussels Metro station on the northern segment of lines 2 and 6. It is located under the Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road) at the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat in the municipality of the Saint-Josse-ten-No ...

on lines 2 and 6 of the

Brussels Metro The Brussels 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 metro-grade lines are M1, M2, M5, and M6 wi ...

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 and

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

elements with influences from

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

and

Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often con ...

. 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 death in 1864. The windows were designed and created by the

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

artist Jean-Baptiste Capronnier. 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 took 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 Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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, judge, royal figure, or other relevant authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislative laws, or customary l ...

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 A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

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 In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

, the southern side of which opens onto the

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

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

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

, and in the basement, a large

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

. Eight pillars around the perimeter of an inner circle in diameter form the framework of the building. A

ambulatory The ambulatory ( '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 century but by the 13t ...

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 (; ), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is a type of arch in which the circular curve is continued below the horizontal line of its diameter, so that the opening at the bottom of the arch is narrower than the ar ...

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 Saint-Josse-ten-Noode ( French, ) or Sint-Joost-ten-Node ( Dutch, ), often simply called Saint-Josse in French or Sint-Joost in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part o ...

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 A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

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 struct ...

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

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