Saint Catherine Catholic Church
Eclectic nineteenth-century church rebuilt over a filled-in harbor basin, beside a free-standing baroque bell tower orphaned from its demolished predecessor.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Saint Catherine Catholic Church in Brussels starts with the odd sight of a lone baroque tower with no church attached, and traces the site back to a modest chapel first recorded in twelve oh one beside the city's old inland fishing harbor. It follows the church that grew up around that chapel through the sixteen twenties, and the eighteen fifty flood that convinced city engineers the waterlogged ground could no longer be trusted, bringing in architect Joseph Poelaert to design a replacement. Picture barges once unloading fish and grain on the very spot where you're standing.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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