Church | XIII-XVI | Gothic | Catholic Church
St Leonard's Church... the 'Art Shrine of Brabant'... unique in Belgium because it houses no fewer than 21 'masterpieces' recognised by the Flemish Government. Visit this monumental Gothic building and imagine yourself back in time.
On Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June, you can listen to a carillon concert from the Grote Markt. City carillonneurs Noël Reynders and his son Frederik will play the carillon of St Leonard's Church from 2.30pm to 3.30pm each time. A terrace on the Grote Markt is the ideal place to enjoy the free concert.
St Leonard's Church... the 'Art Shrine of Brabant'... unique in Belgium as it houses no less than 21 'masterpieces' recognised by the Flemish Government. Find out more about this monumental Gothic building and its treasures during one of our free guided tours for individual tourists. Our Leeuw's city guides will take you on a discovery of the many retables, statues, paintings and other artefacts.
Wendy Wauters holds a PhD in art sciences (KU Leuven) with an award-winning thesis on the perception of the medieval churchgoer. After a career as an art director in advertising, she went to work as head of non-fiction collection development for the Antwerp libraries. She is a much sought-after speaker and loves to bring the little stories of the 16th century into the limelight.
Her book 'The scents of the cathedral' takes you back to Antwerp's Church of Our Lady in the 16th century. A flurry of wet dog wriggling through thick blue clouds of incense. The pungent smell of decomposing corpses mingling with the perfume haze of dolled-up merchants. Wendy Wauters describes the feeling one must have experienced in and around Antwerp Cathedral in the 16th century. A lecture on such a subject in a setting like that of St Leonard's Church cannot fail to take you back 400 years instantaneously.
Following the lecture, you can enjoy a free guided tour of the church.