Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste

St. John the Baptist Church is an art-deco church built in 1931. It replaces a 19th century building, which had become dilapidated and had replaced the old medieval church of the 10th century. The medieval church of St. John the Baptist was destroyed in 1578 when the Calvinists took control of Brussels. In 1834-1836, a new St. John the Baptist church was built according to the plans of the Brussels architect Louis Spaak. However, the new building soon became cramped. In the 1920s, the project for the new church was entrusted to the architect Joseph Diongre. The Church of St. John the Baptist is the first reinforced concrete church in Brussels.

About this building

Key Features

  • Architecture

Other nearby buildings

Saint-Jean-Baptiste-au-Béguinage

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste-au-Béguinage is a Catholic religious building in the Italian-Flemish Baroque style. It was built from 1657 after the Gothic church of the beguinage was plundered by the Calvinists in 1579. The beguinage houses that once stood around the church were destroyed in the 19th century. The church was restored after a fire destroyed its roof structure in 2000.

Sainte-Catherine Church

The present Church of Saint Catherine of Brussels was built on the site of a dock in the old port of Brussels between 1854 and 1874. The building, of French Gothic inspiration, replaces an old 14th century church that had become too small. Twice the church has been threatened with demolition: in the 1950s in favour of an open-air car park, in 2011, as a project to transform the building into a covered market is under study. In 2014, the church was finally placed under the responsibility of the priests of the Brotherhood of the Holy Apostles.

Wikimedia Commons/EmDee

Tower of the former St. Catherine's Church

This tower is the last remnant of St. Catherine's Church which preceded the present church. The former Church of St. Catherine was a Gothic church built in the 14th and 15th centuries. The church was later enlarged by a choir in the 17th century. In the same century, from 1629 to 1664, the baroque bell tower was built. The bell tower was restored between 1913 and 1930.