Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Brussels)

See also: Sacred Heart (homonymy), Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Familiarly called Basilica of Koekelberg by the Inhabitants of Brussels, the Basilique of the Sacré-coeur of Brussels is the young sister of that of Paris. Inspired by its elder, it like it is dedicated to the devotion of the Sacré-coeur.

The plate of Koekelberg dominating Brussels had already drawn the attention of Léopold Ier which would have planned to build the royal residence there. It was however Léopold II which conceived to trace there a solemn alley which was to lead to a the Pantheon Belgian , that whose still attest the which occurred national Glories and that of the the Pantheon which are next to the site. This laic project too displeased with the catholic Bourgeoisie with the capacity and it is - gift - in 1902, with the return of a visit of the finishing building site of the Sacré-coeur to Paris that the sovereign imagined to equip Brussels with a national basilica even larger.

Less visionary in Architecture that in other fields, while Horta and the Art nouveau triumphed, it is with Pierre Langerock that this king builder entrusted the responsibility to draw a building neogothic colossal whose exorbitant cost caused the opposition of the ministers. The monarch planned to go there from his personal cassette largely provided by the private colony which the State independent of Congo constituted. He did not have time of them, and its death in 1909 buried also the project of which he had sealed the First stone the October 12th 1905.

The end of the war in 1918 started again the idea of a Basilique votive more modest and financed by public subscriptions. Work began again in 1926 on the abandoned foundations. These was the time Albert Van Huffel which signed the hybrid plans mixing the Germanic audacities with the Bauhaus and of the Deutscher Werkbund with a style more conventional Néo-Byzantine.

Avoided brick and of Terracotta, the use of the Reinforced concrete was to reduce the budget significantly of it. Unfortunately, the Grande depression of the Années 1930 then the Second world war were to delay the building site and, although the place of worship was devoted the October 14th 1951, work could advance only at the small week, the wire of the annual collections in all the churches and the Catholic schools of the kingdom to be completed only in 1970.

This colossal building is the sixth larger church of the world: 141 m length, 107 broad and 100 height. Bad spirits however insinuated that the Dédicace of this monstrous Architecture pâtissière had been appropriate better for Saint-Honore than with the Sacré-coeur. By derision, some spoke about the “Koekelique de Basilberg”.

Satellite sight WikiMapia

External bond

virtual Visit of the Basilica of Koekelberg.
Guide all in photographs of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Brussels.

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