Church of St. Martin

The Church of St. Martin in Ganshoren belongs to the oldest parish in this small northern municipality of Brussels, even though the building standing today is a modern one from the 1970s. It sits on Reine Fabiola square and reflects a history that stretches back nearly a thousand years.

How old is this parish?

A chapel already existed in Ganshoren in 1112, making St. Martin's the oldest parish in the entire municipality. From the Middle Ages until the first half of the 19th century, the chapel remained a dependency of the parish of Saint-Pierre in neighboring Jette. It was only elevated to full parish status in 1835.

What stood on this site before?

In 1850 a Neo-Gothic church was built at the corner of what are now Sergeant Sorensen and Alfred Doulceron streets. That building served the community for over a century before it was replaced in 1970 by a new church, constructed several hundred meters further north.

What does the current church look like?

The present-day church was built in 1970 to designs by architect Jean Gilson, in the modernist style typical of post-war religious architecture in Belgium. It stands on Reine Fabiola square, at the heart of Ganshoren — one of the smallest and most rural municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region. Its most striking feature is a large ceramic relief on the facade, created by Polish artist Zygmunt Dobrzycki, which sets the building apart from its surroundings.

Did any elements of the old church survive?

Yes. The interior of the new church incorporates several valuable pieces from the previous Neo-Gothic building. Among them is a pulpit dating from 1634, originally from the abbey of Dieleghem in Jette, and a painting depicting the preaching of St. John the Baptist, attributed to Ambrosius and Frans Francken. The church also houses an organ built in 1889 by brothers Adrien and Salomon van Bever, with a Neo-Gothic case.

Why is it worth a visit?

The Church of St. Martin combines a contrast rarely found together: a stark modernist structure from 1970 and historical works of art several centuries old. It illustrates how Belgian parishes preserved continuity of tradition even as the architectural form of their places of worship changed entirely. For visitors exploring Ganshoren — a municipality rarely visited by tourists and therefore still carrying a quiet, local character — the church serves as a landmark and a natural starting point for a walk through the area.

Where exactly is it located?

The church stands on Reine Fabiola square in Ganshoren, one of the nineteen municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, north of the city center.