Chapel of the Resurrection
A 15th-century chapel demolished for a railway station, rebuilt brick-for-brick, and now the EU Quarter's shared prayer space for an entire continent's worth of faiths.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Brussels offline.
When Brussels cleared the Rue des Sols in 1907 for Brussels-Central station, the Order Sisters of Perpetual Adoration rebuilt their 1455 chapel as an exact exterior replica on Rue Van Maerlant, inaugurating it in 1908. After a full interior renovation in 1999–2000, funded by COMECE, the Conference of European Churches, and the King Baudouin Foundation, Archbishop Daneels reopened it in 2001 as a Catholic church with an explicit ecumenical mandate for EU staff and institutions.
What to look for
- The unchanged neo-Renaissance facade — externally identical to the 1455 original despite a complete interior rebuild by Marionex Architects
- The fully restructured interior, redesigned in 1999–2000 and bearing no resemblance to the pre-renovation layout
- The former convent building next door, now repurposed as a European Commission library and visitors centre
Free entry; on Rue Van Maerlant in the European Quarter, steps from the former convent block and a short walk from Brussels-Central station.
Chapel of the Resurrection is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Brussels, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Brussels pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Brussels
- Manneken PisA 55.5 cm bronze boy that somehow became the face of an entire country — the joke is entirely intentional.
- Grand-PlaceEvery guildhall surrounding you was rebuilt from rubble — French artillery levelled the square in 1695, and the Town Hall tower survived only because it was the gunners' aiming point.
- AtomiumNine stainless-steel spheres arranged as an iron crystal blown up 165 billion times — built to headline a World's Fair and never taken down.
- Stoclet PalaceA UNESCO World Heritage house you can only see from the pavement — by design, and by the owner's choice.
- King Baudouin StadiumInaugurated for Belgium's 100th birthday in 1930, this 70,000-seat bowl on the Heysel Plateau hosted six European finals — and the night football changed forever.
- Cathedral of St. Michael and St. GudulaBelgium's national church began as a chapel on a trade-route crossroads in the 9th century — eleven centuries of building decisions are now stacked on a hill called "Mount of Sorrow."