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the church of saint-jean-baptiste, molenbeek-saint-jean, a concrete sanctuary
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The final plans were drawn up by the Brussels architect Joseph Diongre, famous for his design of the former broadcasting building on Place Flagey at Ixelles. He was also responsible for the town hall of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and the aesthetic similarity with the church that concerns us here is clearly visible to the eye! —He also designed a number of social housing estates in the Molenbeek area, one of which still bears his name. Work began on the new church in 1931, funded by the municipality as decreed by the Napoleonic Concordat, and it was completed fifteen months later.
rigin and development
An air of calm emanates from the Saint-Jean-Baptiste square, providing the perfect backdrop for the church that stands before you... The square is airy and spacious, and the church, slightly raised, is set off to advantage. This is a restful spot, a meeting place or a play area for children. With its ample dimensions, — 67.7 m long and 30 m at its widest — the church that you are admiring, which is dedicated to the patron saint of the district, is a relatively recent construction: it was consecrated in 1932, after being built in only 15 months. In administrative terms, it belongs to the parish of Molenbeek-Centre, which, as well as Saint-Jean-Baptiste, also includes the churches of Sainte-Barbe and Saint-Rémi. The hierarchy is as follows: the parish of Molenbeek-Centre belongs to the deanery of Brussels-Ouest, which in turn is part of the Brussels vicariat, a subgroup of the diocese of Malines-Brussels. There is a sense of historical continuity in the church’s location: a church dedicated to Saint-Jean-Baptiste has stood on this site since the 12th century; at that time it was an annex of the church of Sainte-Gudule. After being destroyed during the religious wars of the 16th century, a new church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste was built between 1593 and 1597. It was funded by the City of Brussels, the canons of Sainte-Gudule and the Spanish government, which controlled the region at the time. This church proved to be too small and a larger building was constructed in its place between 1834 and 1836, in an extremely sober neo-classical style, by the Brussels architect, Louis Spaak.
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rchitecture and decor
In his project, Diongre embraced an architectural style that was very much in vogue at the time: art deco, in which the functional prevailed over the ornamental. Sober and elegant, the building’s shape is clearly delineated in geometric lines. Due to budgetary restrictions, a brick and natural stone construction was ruled out. In fact, an initial plan with a more traditional design had been discarded due to its high cost. The financial constraints — industrial materials and construction techniques were a lot less costly — and the preferences of the local council, — at the time led by a liberal-socialist, secular majority — favoured the adoption of a more modern style. The situation was therefore not conducive to building a grandiose or expensive church... Among the modern construction techniques used were reinforced concrete, with pre-fabricated elements for the windows. Most of the exterior reinforced concrete structure was clad in white stone from a quarry in Brauvilliers, a village in Lorraine, France. The 56-metre clock tower was set off centre, to one side of the façade. The main façade is adorned with an imposing open-work cross. Inside the church, its main load-bearing structures, six great 23-metre high parabolic arches, are clearly visible and the reinforced concrete elements are very prominent. The interior walls have been left with their original concrete construction and their surfaces have been smoothed to give an overall light grey tone to the walls. The interior is also striking for its extremely beautiful stained glass windows and its Belgian marble décor. The building was awarded heritage status in 1984.
By the end of the 19th century, it was decided to extend the church. In 1912, a pair of architects decided to build a new church, as the old one was not only cramped but also very dilapidated. The church is «so unsightly that it mars the view of even the humblest houses around it: it’s no better than a stable», claimed Henri Hollevoet, burgomaster of Molenbeek in his address to the local council on 5th October 1896. As that project proved too costly, a third architect entered the race to bring the present building into being.
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ours and detours
The successive churches of Saint-Jean-Baptiste are a reflection of how the area has developed from a medieval village of a few hundred inhabitants to the great metropolitan centre of today with a population of almost 100,000 people. In contrast, the population figures have not altered greatly since the early 20th century, rising only from 73,000 to today’s figure. The landscape, on the other hand, has changed dramatically. In the Middle Ages, the church was an important place of pilgrimage, famous for curing a number of diseases and disorders, such as epilepsy, certain types of blindness and insomnia in newborn babies. Some works of art bear witness to these events, such as the engravings inspired by a painting by Brueghel the Elder, showing a procession of epilepsy sufferers on a pilgrimage to the church of Molenbeek, seeking a cure for their malady for one whole year! The new church faced the older 19th century building. The present-day Saint-Jean-Baptiste square is the former site of the earlier churches and the parish cemetery. Somewhat unusually, the 19th century church was only demolished after the completion of the new building. The construction of the church was set in the wider context of a general refurbishment of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district, including, among other modifications, the demolition of the former presbytery, which was replaced by a new residence, a new route for the tram line, the development of some streets, etc. Saint-Jean-Baptiste has evident similarities to the church of Notre-Dame de la Consolation built ten years earlier at Raincy, a suburb of Paris. That church in particular has served as a model for the genre as it was the first church built of concrete, a material that until that time had been reserved exclusively for industrial buildings. It is one of the few concrete churches in the Brussels region, along with Saint-Augustin (in Forest) and Sainte-Suzanne (in Schaerbeek). Apart from its liturgical role, the church is regularly used for a variety of cultural events, such as exhibitions, dances and concerts.
www.visit.brussels copyright: Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles