The story of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal

Its tower rises 123 metres over the city, and this is the largest Gothic church in Belgium. Work began in 1352, and after nearly 170 years, in 1521, the church was ready. It was meant to have two towers of equal height, but on the night of 5 to 6 October 1533 a fire broke out; 57 altars went up in flames, and the second tower was eventually abandoned.

Worse came on 20 August 1566, when Protestant iconoclasts destroyed much of the interior. A Welsh merchant, Richard Clough, wrote that the cathedral 'looked like a hell', with images falling and the organs destroyed. French revolutionaries plundered it in 1794, and around 1798 the French administration intended to demolish it.

Yet each time it recovered. In 1816 three Rubens masterpieces came back from Paris, and today the cathedral holds significant works by Rubens, as well as paintings by Otto van Veen and Marten de Vos. A complete restoration took place between 1965 and 1993.