Saint Mary's Royal Church

About

The Royal Church of St Mary () is a church in the municipality of Schaerbeek, Belgium, at the end of the Koningsstraat. Louis Van Overstraeten, a young architect from Ghent, won the architectural competition in 1844 for the construction of a royal church. He died at the age of 31 and would not see the completion of the building.

The church had to come on the trail that led from the royal palace of Brussels to that of Laeken. The plan provided for a church building in byzantine-Roman style with a central octagonal ground plan surrounded by jet chapels. The whole was crowned with a beam-pillared dome on vaults.

The weight of the dome was reduced by the use of metal and light coating materials. Light flows into the base of the tambour via a belt of windows at the height of the crowning frame. Van Overstraeten also added air arches to strengthen the structure.

Construction began in 1845 and the inauguration of the church took place on 15 August 1853, as a tribute to Queen Louise-Marie who had died three years earlier. At the church, the funeral of...