Chapelle de Grimohaye

Chapelle de Grimohaye is a small baroque chapel set on a hilltop in Limal, a district of Wavre in Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Also known as Chapelle Notre-Dame des Affligés or Chapelle du Loup, it was built in 1688 at the request of dean Charles Martinez. The site itself carried older significance for local Marian devotion, predating the current stone structure.

Who is the chapel dedicated to?

The chapel is dedicated to Notre-Dame des Affligés — Our Lady of the Afflicted. This dedication matched the traditional role of the site as a place where residents of the surrounding villages would turn in moments of hardship, illness, or worry.

What can be found inside?

Inside stands a statue of the Virgin invoked especially for childhood illnesses. Added to the chapel around 1910, the statue was occasionally carried in procession to the parish church — a custom that points to a living local devotion tied to this spot, beyond its architectural interest alone.

How has the chapel's architecture evolved?

The building has been reshaped several times since it was first built. Its most distinctive exterior feature is a set of six flying buttresses topped with pinnacles, present on the structure since the 19th century. The chapel underwent further transformation during the second third of the 19th century and again in the first third of the 20th century, giving it the layered appearance it has today — a baroque core overlaid with additions from later periods.

Is the chapel a protected monument?

Yes. Chapelle de Grimohaye was listed as a protected monument on 26 March 1980, an official recognition of its historical and architectural value within the wider Walloon region despite its modest scale.

Why was the chapel at risk, and what is happening to it now?

In recent years, the chapel's physical condition raised serious concern, with local press describing a building in urgent need of intervention to prevent further deterioration. A turning point came in 2021, when prospects for saving the structure improved, and by 2022 a formal restoration project had entered public inquiry — the administrative consultation stage required before renovation work can proceed in Belgium. The planned works aim to preserve both the core structure and the distinctive buttresses and details accumulated across its various building phases.

Where exactly is it located?

The chapel stands on rising ground in Limal, a section of the town of Wavre, in the province of Walloon Brabant. Its coordinates are approximately 50.6937°N, 4.5614°E, in a semi-rural, semi-suburban setting typical of this part of the region south of Brussels.

Frequently asked questions

What sets Chapelle de Grimohaye apart from other chapels in the area? It combines a 17th-century baroque origin with later 19th- and 20th-century alterations, alongside a Marian devotion tied specifically to the protection of children that has persisted into the present.

Can visitors go inside the chapel? As a small, locally significant place of worship, it is only occasionally open to the public, mainly around Marian feast days and processions — it is not a standard tourist site with regular opening hours.

Why is it also called Chapelle du Loup? This alternative name exists alongside the official dedication to Notre-Dame des Affligés and reflects a local naming tradition tied to this spot in Limal.

Is the chapel currently being restored? After years of uncertainty over its fate, 2021–2022 saw the launch of a formal process to prepare and publicly review a restoration project intended to secure the building's future.