Inception

In the mid-19th century, King Leopold I dreamed of turning the uninhabited Koekelberg hill in north-western Brussels into a royal residence area. After his death, his son, King Leopold II, envisaged building a Belgian Panthéon dedicated to Great Belgians there,^[1] inspired by the French Panthéon in Paris, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Belgian independence. The king dropped this project due to the lack of enthusiasm of the Belgian population. It is nonetheless still attested today by the two large avenues—the Avenue des Gloires Nationales/Landsroemlaan and the Avenue du Panthéon/Pantheonlaan—that adjoin the site.

In 1902, Leopold II visited the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur of Paris, and inspired by it, decided to build a pilgrimage church back home, a national sanctuary dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.^[2][1] While he saw the opportunity to build his national Panthéon at the Namur Gate in Ixelles, Leopold II accepted that the land of Koekelberg be ceded by the Compagnie immobilière de Belgique to the Catholic Church with a view to building instead the national basilica there. The deed of donation of the 3.32 ha (8.2 acres) of land was signed on 12 December and confirmed on 31 December through a royal decree.

Neo-Gothic basilica (1905–1914)

The initial project of the Leuven-based architect Pierre Langerock was a sumptuous neo-Gothic basilica inspired by the "ideal cathedral" of the French architectural theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Langerock envisaged an edifice bristling with six towers of a hundred metres or more,^[3] the highest of which would have culminated at 146 metres (479 ft) above the crossing.

Leopold II laid the first stone on 12 October 1905 during the celebrations commemorating the 75th anniversary of Belgian independence.^[4] The foundation works started in 1909, but the project was delayed due to the king's death on 17 December 1909. Financing the basilica's construction also soon became a problem,^[5] so only the foundations had been finished when World War I broke out. In his pastoral letter for Christmas 1914, Cardinal Mercier gave the basilica a new meaning:

As soon as Peace shines on our country, we will rebuild on our ruins, and we hope to put the crowning touch on this work of reconstruction by building, on the heights of the capital of free and catholic Belgium, the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart.^[4]

• 
  Neo-Gothic project of the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart by Pierre Langerock (1905)
• 
  Leopold II leaving the provisional church for the laying of the first stone (12 October 1905)
• 
  Cartoon depicting King Leopold II laying the first stone (12 October 1905)

Art Deco basilica (1919–present)

On 29 June 1919, King Albert I and a large crowd associated themselves with this promise in a ceremony on the Koekelberg hill. However, it was impossible to resume Langerock's plan due to the state of public finances. A new project, in Art Deco style of neo-Byzantine inspiration, by the Ghent architect Albert Van Huffel, was thus adopted. In 1925, a 1/40 scale model of this final design won the great architectural prize at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.^[6][7] This model, produced with the greatest care, still stands today in the basilica.^[8]

The adaptation and extension of the existing foundations were undertaken from January 1926, and the building the apse began in August 1930.^[4] After Van Huffel's death on 16 March 1935, the construction was taken over by his assistant, the architect-engineer Paul Rome.^[9] Cardinal Jozef-Ernest van Roey consecrated the unfinished basilica and opened it for worship on 14 October 1935, after obtaining a special authorisation from Pope Pius XI.^[1] The base of the cupola was finished in 1940 when World War II brought a new halt to the works. Building resumed in September 1944 and the main nave was completed in 1951.^[4]

The basilica was consecrated by Cardinal Van Roey on 13 and 14 October 1951,^[1] and Pope Pius XII assigned it the title of Minor Basilica on 28 January 1952. In 1953, the two towers were completed. The south transept opened in 1958 and the north transept in 1962. The cupola and thus the external structure was finished in 1969, and on 11 November 1970, the ceremony for the 25th anniversary of the episcopate of Archbishop of Mechelen–Brussels, Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens, marked the completion of the basilica's construction.^[4] On 4 June 1995, Father Damien was beatified in the basilica by Pope John Paul II.

• 
  Postage stamp commemorating the basilica's consecration (14 October 1951)
• 
  Rear view of the basilica and the Collège du Sacré-Cœur of Ganshoren, c. 1956
• 
  The same view as it appears today

Dimensions

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,^[9] 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.

Exterior

The building's exterior combines reinforced concrete with terracotta layering, Dutch belvédère bricks, and white dimension stone from Burgundy. The green roofs and domes are clad in Congolese copper.

The main entrance is flanked by two slender towers, 65 metres (213 ft) high, topped with reduced domes. The narthex-portal has a large balcony intended for open-air masses, the parapet of which was carved with a bas-relief depicting Christ the Merciful. Its pillars are extended by statues of the four evangelists by the Belgian-Danish sculptor Harry Elstrøm. From left to right, they depict Saint John and his eagle (1955), Saint Luke carrying the bull (1958), Saint Mark enlaced by the lion (1958), and Saint Matthew with man (1964).

• 
  Frontal view
• 
  Lateral view
• 
  Portal
• 
  Closeup of the portal

Interior

The basilica's interior possesses a rich architectural heritage and holds an exceptional collection of works of art, including Tête du Christ bronze sculpture by Constant Permeke, thirty-one engravings by Joan Miró about the Canticle of the Sun by Saint Francis of Assisi, a painting by Antoni Tàpies, a photographic work by San Damon called When Jesus Became Christ on the theme of the crucifixion, seven original lithographs by Alfred Manessier on the theme of Easter and the Mount of Olives, works by James Ensor, a painting by Geneviève Asse on the biblical theme, as well as paintings by Albert Servaes. The painter Anto Carte designed the eight stained glass windows representing the life of Jesus,^[10] and the artist Ri Coëme an additional twenty-eight.

The altar, the liturgical furniture and the cross in the choir are the work of the sculptor Jacques Dieudonné. The basilica also contains two organs: a large 1959 modern choir organ and a 1965 classical choir organ in the crypt.^[11]

• 
  Central nave
• 
  Inside view of the dome
• 
  Stained glass

Citations

Bibliography

• Basyn, Jean-Marc; Yves Jacqmin (2000). "L'art Déco religieux". In Région de Bruxelles-capitale (ed.). Un siècle d'architecture et d'urbanisme 1900–2000 (in French). Liège: Editions Mardaga. p. 69. ISBN 2-87009-755-7.
• Pirlot, Anne-Marie (2004). "L'exposition de Paris (1925)". In Région de Bruxelles-capitale (ed.). Modernisme art déco (in French). Liège: Editions Mardaga. p. 15. ISBN 2-87009-871-5.
• Rion, Pierre (1986). La Basilique de Koekelberg : architecture et mentalités religieuses (in French). Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut supérieur d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art. p. 141. OCLC 15047024.
• Stéphany, Pierre (2006). "Bruxelles. La basilique de Koekelberg". La Belgique en cent coups d'oeil (in French). Tielt: Lanno Publishers. ISBN 2-87386-445-1.
• Vandenbreeden, Jos; de Puydt, Raoul Maria (2005). Basilique Koekelberg: monument art déco (in French and Dutch). Bruxelles: Editions Racine. ISBN 90-209-6144-6.