Church of Our Lady Immaculate

The Church of Our Lady Immaculate is a neo-Romanesque church was built in 1854 for the Capuchin fathers who made it their parish. The church is a Catholic parish. In 1587, the Capuchin fathers settled in Brussels. They remained there for a little over two centuries. At the end of 1796, during the French revolutionary period, their convent was confiscated and publicly sold by the French as 'national property'. In the 19th century, in 1852, the Capuchins returned. They settled in the heart of the city, near the Place du Jeu de Balle, in the Marolles district.

About this building

Key Features

  • Architecture

Visitors information

  • Bus stop within 100m
  • Café within 500m

Other nearby buildings

Wikimedia Commons/Patrick Despoix

Brigittines Church

In 1623, Archduchess Isabella granted the order of Brigitte the right to settle in Brussels. In 1637, the Confrérie des Brigittines, originally from Dendermonde, bought a property on the site of the present rue des Brigittines. In 1663, they built a convent with a chapel, designed by the architect Léon Van Heil in the Italian-Flemish Renaissance style. During the bombardment of 1695, which reduced most of Brussels to ashes, the building suffered little damage. However, in 1784, Joseph II put an end to the religious vocation of the building. Disused as a religious monument from 1783 to 1920, the chapel was put up for public sale. The City of Brussels acquired it two years later and, thanks to a successful restoration, saved it from almost two centuries of setbacks and various uses. A contemporary extension to the chapel was inaugurated in 2007.

Wikimedia Commons/Morburre

Church of the Minims

The church of Saints John and Stephen the Minimes, known locally as the "Church of the Minimes", was first built in 1624, but it soon proved too small, so a new church was built from 1700 to 1715. The new church presents an architectural style of transition between Brabantine baroque and early classicism. During the French Revolution, the church was closed in 1796. It was not until the independence of Belgium (1830) that the church finally opened without interruption. Restoration work, directed by Tilman-François Suys and Pierre Victor Jamaer, was carried out at the end of the 19th century. The convent and cloister of the Minimes were demolished in 1920 to make way for the construction of the Athénée Robert Catteau.