Heritage brochure - Saint-Michael and Saint-Gudula's Cathedral

© Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles / photo : J. Geleyns / Ro scan

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saint-michael

and saint-gudula’s cathedral

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down to make room for the Maes chapel, after the name of a president of the Privy Council in the 17th century, a Prime Minister of sorts.

The construction rests on three financing sources: the choir is paid by the chapter, the transept and the nave by the church warden and the towers by the municipal authority.

rigin and development

The Brussels cathedral is the main place of worship in Brussels. Indeed, in 1962, it is associated with the Saint-Rumbold’s cathedral of Malines to become the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Malines-Brussels, the highest authority of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Belgium.

Locals traditionally refer to it as “Saint-Gudula”, who has therefore in their minds slain Archangel Saint-Michael... even though, after several name changes, it is since 1993 officially called “Saint-Michael and Saint-Gudula’s cathedral”.

But how far do we have to go back to learn about the origins of this building?

Probably as early as the 9th century, a chapel dedicated to Saint-Michael, patron saint of Brussels, was built on the “Molenberg” (currently “Treurenberg”, literally the mount of tears, of sorrow and sadness, in direct reference to the former Saint-Gudula gate — integrated in the first city walls — being used in the 16th century as an ominously famous prison. Afterwards, it is, so to speak, business as usual in medieval times: a lay prince — in this case, Lambert II, known as Balderic, count of Louvain and Brussels — founds a chapter of canons to lead a collegiate church, obviously devoted to himself and to Saint-Gudula, one of the saints of the Carolingian dynasty. Hence, the 11th century witnesses the build of a Roman collegiate church consecrated in 1047. In 1072, the building is devastated by a fire, and needs to be reconstructed. The west façade, where the current entrance is located, is pulled down to extend the church with a frontispiece and transition span.

The construction of the building you see in front of you commences at the beginning of the 13th century (set date: 1226) at the behest of Henry I, duke of Brabant. The building will only be completed in 1475, at the end of the Burgundian era in our regions. The Romanesque church is built on three storeys: the nave on the lower level, an axial flight of stairs leading to the transept, and finally, a second axial staircase of a similar height leading to the choir supported by a crypt. The crypt is in fact the oldest architectural remains accessible to the public in Brussels, bringing us back to the 11th century, just like the archaeological site of the former ducal palace of Coudenberg. The new Gothic church is built on one and the same level, that of the former transept, hence requiring the choir to be lowered and the nave to be raised.

Notice the lighter pavement on the floor, giving you not only a precise indication of the former Romanesque church’s structure but also of how the building was in its original state and of the extent of the later changes. Through the basement windows you can see the walls of the ancient building in the basement, also open to the public as archaeological site.

Ideally positioned and built in sandstone of Lede, limestone extracted from quarries nearby Brussels, the building is imposing by its sheer size: 110 meters long, 30 meters wide (50 meters at the level of the choir), 26,5 meters high (the entrance towers reach a height of 69 meters). The plan, in compliance with the traditional lay-out of large Gothic churches of the 13th century, consists of the choir (first element constructed at the beginning of the 13th century, it features the choir itself and an ambulatory), the nave and the transept in the shape of a Latin cross, which date back to the 14th and 15th century. Small rectangular chapels adjoin the sides of the choir, as well as several apsidal chapels at the back of the church. In the 16th and 17th century, two large chapels replace the small initial radiating chapels on either side of the choir: the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament (north transept) and the Chapel of Our Lady of Deliverance (south transept), each flanked by a sacristy. Exactly over the same period, the apsidal chapel, also called small Slabbaert choir, is torn

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Régie des Bâtiments © LMPR@rchitects - Concept G.J. Bral

rchitecture and decor

Built in 11 main phases and subject to lengthy restoration works (over nearly 100 years!) in the 19th century, the cathedral is a textbook example of Brabantine Gothic style, a local interpretation of Gothic architecture in our region.

So for instance, the width-height ratio, far more reasonable when compared to the French cathedrals with their more pronounced verticality, or the curled row-foliage cabbage leaves decorating the pillars’ capitals are typical features of the Brabantine Gothic constructions. Overall, and by comparison with e.g. France, the Gothic emerges much later in Belgium. However, the building displays other styles as well, mainly due to the time it took to complete the construction (over 300 years). If the entrance towers are indeed in Brabantine Gothic, the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament is built in Flamboyant Gothic style. Whereas the Chapel of Our Lady of Deliverance is in Late Gothic, i.e. mixed with some recent add-ons enabling us to ascribe it to the Gothic implemented during the Renaissance, the interior of the same chapel is Baroque in style. Also, let us mention some Gothic Revival additions of the 19th century, particularly the façade of the north transept.

Obviously, given the extent of the works over such a period of time, the building has seen numerous architects-project managers come and go: Jacob van Thienen, Jan van Ruysbroeck, Gilles de Briedere, or Antoine Keldermans, to name just a few. The rather surprising homogeneity of the building has everything to do with the artistic coherence handed down from generation to generation through years of apprenticeship.

The latest architectural additions date from the beginning of the 20th century with the construction of the sacristy and of the north gate. The current organ is a recent acquisition (2000) and the work of a German organ-builder. Intentionally designed to meet the specific acoustic needs of a gothic cathedral, it is suspended in a “bird’s nest” position from the pillars of the nave, above the triforium. Accessing the instrument is nothing short of a real feat (narrow spiral stairway, step over onto the roof, etc.)!

The last stages of the restoration are recent: initiated in 1983, the work is completed in 2000. At the same time, it offered the possibility to uncover important and well-preserved remnants of the Romanesque church dating back to the 11th century and of the crypt over which the current choir is built.

We could talk endlessly about the rich and diverse decoration of the cathedral. Let us focus on some of the pieces.

The iconography of the main gate refers to the Wise Men, the prophets, the apostles and the life of the Holy Virgin. After entering the building, you will see the 12 columns, each adorned with the statue of an Apostle, all 12 statues dating back to the 17th century. The inside walls were not bare, as they are today. Formerly, the walls were entirely plastered and painted in polychrome. The cathedral has one of the richest collections of stained-glass windows of Belgium. And yet, what you see today is but a small part of an initially much larger set. The preserved stained-glass windows bear evidence of the actual influence of their donors; stained-glass windows donated by less prestigious personalities disappeared over the past centuries.

The central stained-glass windows of the apse date from 1520: the central window features emperor Maximilian and his wife Mary of Burgundy praying to the Virgin Mary and her Infant; on the left-hand side, you see Philip the Hand-

some and his wife Joana of Castile (parents of Charles V) praying in front of Saint-Michael; lastly, on the right-hand side, Charles V and his brother Ferdinand are represented in prayer before Saint-Gudula.

The stained-glass window of the north transept dates from 1537 and relates to the Renaissance: it portrays Charles V and his wife Isabella of Portugal in adoration in front of the Holy Sacrament and accompanied by their patron saints Charlemagne and Elisabeth of Hungary. If you head for the opposite south transept, you will see a stained-glass window depicting Mary of Hungary, sister of Charles V and governor of the Netherlands, with her husband Louis II of Hungary. In the latter two cases, the donors are twice as great as God himself!

Finally, above the entrance, you can admire a remarkably beautiful stained-glass window donated in 1528 by Erard de la Marck, prince-bishop of Liege, representing the Last Judgment.

The north façade of the transept is adorned with the statue of Saint-Michael (as a winged knight slaying the dragon, symbolizing Satan) and the southern façade shows Saint-Gudula with her lantern.

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ours and detours

During the Middle Ages, the church has a confinement cell, the prison of the chapter, destined for ecclesiastics found guilty of misdemeanours (calumny, assault and battery, drunkenness, impudence). The cell still stands and is located in the northern part of the transept, above the baptistery.

Legend has it that in 1370, some Jews were accused of stealing hosts at the ancient Saint-Catherine chapel and desecrating the Blessed Sacrament by stabbing the hosts with their daggers. It was believed that the holy hosts had actually bled — hence, the Jews were publicly burnt at the stake. Historically, the story is nothing more than allegations: it mainly relates to the prevailing feelings of hatred towards the Jewish community during the Middle Ages. However, the legend of the Miraculous Sacrament is presented in many works of art (tapestries and stained-glass windows) in the cathedral. The central element, the Holy Communion wafers, became a main object of worship, venerated for centuries in Brussels until the end of the Ancien Régime. Much later, the leadership of the archdiocese of Malines-Brussels puts up a bronze plate with the following text: “In 1968, in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, and taking note of historical research, the leadership of the diocese of Malines-Brussels has drawn... attention to the biased nature of the accusation and the legendary character of the ‘miracle’.”

In some ways, the cathedral is not unlike a vast cemetery! Influential personalities indeed chose to be buried inside the cathedral, whilst the outdoor cemetery — i.e. the entire area surrounding the building — “welcomed” people of lesser means. Not to mention that these numerous burials generated endless digging and excavating during almost 500 years. The princes on the contrary enjoyed the most enviable situation: often a prominently featured vault or mausoleum. So for instance, the Archdukes Albert and Isabella, governors of the Southern Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century, are buried beneath the altar of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament.

As the seat of ecclesiastical power, the cathedral had to face the fury of dissenting groups on several occasions: ransacking and looting by iconoclasts (opposed to the veneration of sacred images) on 6 June 1579, pillage by French revolutionaries in 1793. From the 16th century onwards, the building hosts important political and religious events. Charles V is proclaimed King of Spain in the cathedral in 1516; the Archdukes Albert and Isabella, governors of our regions, perform their Joyous Entry in 1599; Napoleon and his wife attend a Te Deum in 1803; the future King Leopold III marries Astrid in 1926. Even nowadays, this place of worship still accommodates some events of national, social, religious and cultural nature, such as most of the major events celebrating the royal family (burials, weddings amongst which the wedding of the current King Philippe, etc.).

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