Saint-James-on-Coudenberg
(Place Royale/Koningsplein)
The Austrian governor Charles of Lorraine ordered the building of this classicist church that was completed in 1787. The facade with its columns reminds of a Roman temple. The interior features Corinthian pillars (1785-1787), paintings by Jan Portaels (19th century), a pulpit by Jozef Van Meeuwen (1793). A statue of Our Lady Assistance of the oppressed replaces an earlier statue that was taken to the Netherlands in 1629 and returned in 1853.
