Antwerp’s historical churches

OLV Kathedraal (The Cathedral of Our Lady)

The chapel which stood here in the twelfth century was replaced twice until it became a huge church. It was around that parish church that building work on the present Cathedral started in about 1352. The last vestiges of the original church were demolished in 1481. After 169 years of building the north tower rose up, like lacework in stone, 123 metres high above Brabant and Flanders. The largest Gothic construction in the Netherlands was complete. Yet this parish church did not satisfy the aspirations of the powerful and opulent Antwerp. Even in the year of its completion (1521) Emperor Charles V laid the first stone for a gigantic extension. However, it amounted to little more than that, not least because work was brought to a standstill by a severe fire in the nave (1533).

Today little remains of the original furnishings. The church – which became a cathedral in 1559 – suffered not only from the fire but also from repeated plundering: the iconoclast (1566), Calvinist purging (1581) and looting in the French period (from 1794). And yet the Cathedral is still an enormous treasure chamber, preserving works like the Descent from the Cross and the Elevation of the Cross by Rubens. Moreover, the architecture of the seven-aisled church has again been restored to its full splendour after twenty years of restoration work.

• Handschoenmarkt
• Opening hours: Every weekday from 10am to 5pm. Saturdays from 10am to 3pm. Sundays and bank holidays from 1pm to 4pm

St Paul’s Church

St Paul’s Church was originally part of a vast Dominican cloister. It was consecrated in 1571 as a replacement for a previous house of worship. But disaster struck here as well and on several occasions. After the fire of 1679, a new baroque tower was built. The paintings were plundered in the French period but returned in 1815. Great damage was also done during the Belgian Revolution (1830) and by a fire in 1968. On that occasion, those living round about risked their lives to save the works of art from the fire.

The church has been restored and the magnificent interior is again on view to the public: more than 50 paintings, more than 200 sculptures, splendid baroque altars and carved church furnishings which are some of the most beautiful in the world. Scores of Antwerp masters are represented here: Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Francken, De Vos, Quellin, Kerrick, Verbruggen, Van Baurscheit, Van Mildert, etc. The organ dates from the seventeenth-century but has repeatedly been restored and enlarged. It is one of the most important in the country.

Next to the church (corner Veemarkt-Zwartzustersstraat) there is an eighteenth-century Calvary which is well worth seeing.

• Veemarkt
• Opening hours: Every day from 2pm-5pm (closed during services)

Carolus Borromeus Church

This typical baroque church was built by the Jesuits between 1615 and 1621 to a design drawn up by their rector Francois Aguillon and Brother Peter Huyssens. Rubens played an important part in the decoration of the facade and the pinnacle of the tower but especially of the interior. However, thirty-nine ceiling paintings, the work of his studio, were lost in a fire in 1718. Most of the original marble was also destroyed. But the apse of the main altar and the Mary Chapel were spared and still convey an impression of the church’s former splendor which in the light of the Counter-Reformation was expressly intended to revive the faith of believers, but especially of backsliders. The present interior was created under the direction of Jan Peter van Baurscheit the Elder who also built the pulpit and the splendid casing for the Forceville organ. There are also sculptures and wood carvings by Michiel van der Voort, Andries de Nole and others.

• Hendrik Conscienceplein 6
  2000 Antwerp
• Opening hours: Monday to Saturday: from 10am to 12.30pm and from 2pm to 5pm; Sundays and bank holidays only open for worship

St Jacobs Church (St James)

In Dutch, this church is known under the name Sint Jacobskerk. It is the tomb of the Prince of Painting, Peter Paul Rubens, that attracts most visitors to this church. But there is much more besides, for St James’ Church is sumptuously decorated. The parish could certainly afford such opulence when the church was built (1491-1656) and the area inhabited by the upper middle classes, merchants and members of the aristocrary. They wanted to display their wealth by building a tower which was higher than that of the Cathedral. Hence the imposing base. However, that demonstration of rivalry ceased after 55 metres for financial reasons. The parishioners lavished their wealth with more success on the inside of the church. Here more than one hundred sorts of marble are be found, which according to the eighteenth-century prefect from the Vatican, Cardinal Garampi, “could scarcely have been worked more skilfully”. The walls are hung with works by all the great artists of the city. The Church has twenty-three altars. Rubens’ tomb lies behind the main altar in the Chapel of Our Lady. The painting Our Lady surrounded by saints was painted by him for his burial monument. Experts have pointed out that it is actually a family portrait with Rubens as St George.

• Lange Nieuwstraat 73
• Opening hours: 1 April to 31 October: 2pm-5pm. Closed on Sundays, on religious holidays and during services