National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels
Thursday, 9 March 2023 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union General
Reading Time: 4 minutes
© Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-4.0
🔊 Listen to this Post
The National Basilica of the Sacred Heart (
French : Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cœur,
Dutch : Nationale Basiliek van het Heilig-Hart) is a
Roman Catholic Minor Basilica and
parish church in
Brussels , Belgium. It is dedicated to the
Sacred Heart , inspired by the
Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Paris. Symbolically,
King Leopold II laid the first stone in 1905 during the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of
Belgian Independence . The construction was halted by the two
World Wars and finished only in 1970. Belonging to the Metropolitan
Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels , it is one of the
largest churches by area in the world .
Located at the head of Elisabeth Park atop the Koekelberg hill, between the municipalities of Koekelberg and Ganshoren , the church is popularly known as the Koekelberg Basilica (French: Basilique de Koekelberg, Dutch: Basiliek van Koekelberg). The massive brick and reinforced concrete structure, in Art Deco style of neo-Byzantine inspiration, features two thinner towers and a nearly as high green copper dome that rises 89 metres (292 ft) above ground, dominating Brussels’ north-western skyline. On a clear day, the basilica can be recognised with the naked eye from dozens of kilometres away outside Brussels.
© Edison McCullen/cc-by-sa-4.0
The Koekelberg Basilica is one of the largest
Art Deco buildings in the world, and was, at the time of its construction, the
fifth largest church building in world , at 89 metres (292 ft) high and 164.5 metres (540 ft) long (outside length). It remains today one of the largest basilicas and can accommodate 3,500 people. The central
nave is 141 metres (463 ft) long, and at its widest, the building is 107 metres (351 ft). The
cupola rises 89 metres (292 ft) above ground and has a
diameter of 33 metres (108 ft). This enormous building houses Catholic Church celebrations in the two main Belgian national languages (Dutch and French), as well as conferences, exhibitions (as in 2007–08, the International
Leonardo da Vinci Expo), a restaurant, a Catholic radio station, a theatre and two museums.
The basilica, on the Koekelberg hill, is a landmark on the Brussels skyline. The
cupola ‘s platform offers an excellent
panoramic view of Brussels and the wider region of
Flemish Brabant . Visitors can reach the platform either by stairs or by two elevators commissioned in the spring of 2012, in the form of a cage and two fully glazed cabins.
Read more on
National Basilica of the Sacred Heart ,
visit.brussels – National Basilica of the Sacred Heart and
Wikipedia National Basilica of the Sacred Heart (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
VIDEO
Recommended posts:
[caption id="attachment_6355" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Dresdner Zwinger © der-dresdner-zwinger.de[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Zwinger (Der Dresdner Zwinger) is a palace in Dresden built in Rococo style and designed by court architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann. It served as the orangery, exhibition gallery and festival arena of the Dresden Court. The location was formerly part of the Dresden fortress of which the outer wall is conserved. The name derives from the German word Zwinger (outer ward of a concentric castl...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_164122" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Port of Fontvieille © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Fontvieille is the southernmost ward in the Principality of Monaco. It was developed by an Italian architect, Manfredi Nicoletti, between the 1970s and the 1990s. In contrast to the other city districts Monaco-Ville, Monte Carlo and La Condamine, Fontvieille was constructed, after Italian engineer Gianfranco Gilardini's design, almost entirely on artificially reclaimed land and thus represe...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_196159" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Taj Mahal Hotel Palace © QuartierLatin1968/cc-by-2.5[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Mumbai, also known as Bombay /the official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. As of 2011 it is the most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 12.4 million. The larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region is the second most populous metropolitan area in India, with a population of 21.3 million as of 2016< Mumbai lies on the Konk...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_153033" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Just Enough Room Island © Omegatron/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Thousand Islands constitute an archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 50 miles (80 km) downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario, the U.S. islands in the state of New York. Passenger air service to the 1000 I...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_218229" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Downtown © Jawny80[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]White Plains is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. An inner suburb of New York City, it is the county seat and commercial hub of Westchester, a densely populated suburban county that is home to approximately one million people. White Plains is located in south-central Westchester, with its downtown (Mamaroneck Avenue) 25 miles (40 km) north of Midtown Manhattan.
White Plains is home to the Ar...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_234222" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Skyline of Shreveport and Bossier City © flickr.com - Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Shreveport is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is the fourth largest in Louisiana, though 2020 census estimates placed its population at 397,590. The bul...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_196207" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Borobudur, the world's largest Buddist temple © Gunawan Kartapranata/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world's largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands, and at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles), the 14th largest by land area and the 7th largest in combined sea and land area. With over 261 million people, it is the world's 4th mo...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_206865" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Walking the Jesus Trail near Nazareth © Zeromancer44/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Jesus Trail is a 65 km (40 mi) hiking and pilgrimage route in the Galilee region of Israel that traces the route Jesus may have walked, connecting many sites from his life and ministry. The main part of the trail begins in Nazareth and passes through Sepphoris, Cana (Kafr Kanna), the Horns of Hattin, Mount Arbel Cliffs, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Tabgha, and the Mou...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_232355" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Pearse Street © Milesoneill/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Ballina (Irish: Béal an Átha, meaning 'mouth of the ford') is a town in north County Mayo, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and Parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg mountains to the west. The town occupies two baronies; Tirawley on the west bank of the Moy River, and Tireragh, a barony within the County of Sli...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_153219" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Cape Trafalgar © JMSE[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Cape Trafalgar (Spanish: Cabo Trafalgar) is a headland in the Province of Cádiz in the south-west of Spain, approximately 40 km southeast of the provincial capital Cádiz. It lies on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the Strait of Gibraltar. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Western limit of the strait as a line that joins Cape Trafalgar to the North to Cape Spartel to the South. Th...
[ read more ]
