Église Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon

This guide to the Église Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon in Brussels tells of Beatrijs Soetkens, who in 1348 said the Virgin Mary told her to steal a statue from an Antwerp cathedral and row it downriver to Brussels by night. The crossbowmen's guild she brought it to called it a miracle rather than a theft, and vowed an annual procession — the Ommegang — still honored by UNESCO today. From that guild chapel the guide traces the church's growth into the Brabantine Gothic building around you, its choir finished by 1435 and its towers still missing. Look up at the unfinished bays as you listen.