Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
— — a pale Gothic facade with two unfinished towers.
Not only on a wall.
“The co-cathedral of Brussels, set on the Treurenberg slope between the royal quarter and the medieval core. Two square towers rise above a wide pale-stone facade, both of them stopping short of the spires the original masters drew but never built. Inside, a 17th-century oak pulpit by Hendrik Verbruggen carves Adam and Eve being driven from the garden by an enormous angel. Belgian royal weddings and state funerals happen here. On a slow weekday morning the nave is mostly tourists and one or two people sitting near the back. from the studio
Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula stands on the Treurenberg, the small hill between the Grand Place in the lower town and the royal Coudenberg quarter above. A Romanesque chapel stood on the site from around 1047; the present Brabantine Gothic church was begun in 1226 and the bulk of the building was finished by the mid-15th century. It serves as the co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, alongside Saint Rumbold's in Mechelen. Belgian royal weddings, coronations, and state funerals are held here, including the funeral of King Baudouin in 1993 and the wedding of the future King Philippe in 1999.
The cathedral is built mainly of pale Gobertange limestone quarried east of Brussels, which weathers to the soft cream-grey the facade now wears. The west front is in the high Brabantine Gothic mode: a deep central portal flanked by two square towers, each rising about 64 metres. Both towers were planned to carry tall spires; neither ever did, and the truncated silhouette has become the building's signature. Inside, twelve oversized 17th-century apostle statues line the nave piers, and Hendrik Verbruggen's 1699 oak pulpit — Adam and Eve fleeing the garden under an angel's sword — is one of the great works of Flemish Baroque carving.
The cathedral is open daily, generally from around 7:30 in the morning until 6 in the evening, with shorter Sunday afternoon hours and adjustments around major liturgies. Entry to the nave is free; a small fee gives access to the Romanesque crypt beneath the choir, where the foundations of the 11th-century chapel are exposed. The treasury, with reliquaries, vestments, and the 16th-century stained glass cartoons by Bernard van Orley, is open on selected days. The nearest metro is Gare Centrale, two minutes down the slope; the parvis above the steps offers the best straight-on view of the western towers.