Sint-Martinuskerk

Sint-Martinuskerk is the historic parish church of Meise, a town in Flemish Brabant just north of Brussels. Standing on Brusselsesteenweg in the heart of the town, it has served for centuries as both a local landmark and the spiritual center of the community.

How old is the site?

The story of the church goes back to around the year 700, when a wooden manor chapel occupied the spot. Around 1100 it was replaced by a stone Romanesque building. As early as 1110, patronage rights over the altar of Meise passed to the church of Grimbergen, and once Grimbergen Abbey was founded in 1127, those rights transferred to the abbey itself — a sign of how closely the parish's early history was tied to the nearby monastic community.

When did the current Gothic church appear?

Around 1500 the Romanesque church was rebuilt in Gothic style, and the choir and transept still date from that campaign. The building is constructed of sandstone in a late Gothic idiom. Its choir has a three-sided closed end, while the integrated west tower rises in two stories and features a portal topped with a Tudor arch. A carillon hangs in the tower.

What damage has the church survived?

The building suffered two major blows: the Iconoclasm of 1566 and military action in 1593. The present central nave dates from a 1626 rebuilding, while the side aisles were added in 1635 and 1642. A further round of serious damage came during the French Revolution, after which the church stood unused for a considerable stretch of time.

What lies beneath the choir?

Beneath the choir is a crypt that once served as a burial place for the lords of Meise and, later, for the owners of nearby Bouchout Castle — linking the parish's history directly to the local nobility and the estate that eventually became famous as a botanical garden.

Are there wall paintings inside?

The transept holds Renaissance murals dating from 1590–1600. At some point they were painted over, rediscovered in 1890, then covered again. It was only in 1993 that the paintings were finally restored and permanently unveiled to visitors — one of the church's more surprising, lesser-known features.

What instrument does the church house?

The organ was built by the Van Bever brothers and dates from 1896, when it was formally inaugurated. It underwent a restoration in 1990 carried out by the firm Draps of Erps-Kwerps. Both the organ and the tower, together with the first bay of the side aisles, are officially protected as heritage monuments.

Why is it worth a visit?

Sint-Martinuskerk compresses more than a thousand years of local religious history into a single, compact site — from an early medieval chapel, through Romanesque and Gothic rebuilding, to Baroque-era repairs and a late-19th-century organ. Visitors can trace this long layered history within the town center of Meise itself.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the church located? At Brusselsesteenweg 1B, in the center of Meise, Flemish Brabant.

From which period does the current building date? The late Gothic core was built around 1500, with the aisles completed during 17th-century rebuilding after wartime damage.

What parts of the church are officially protected? The 1896 organ and the tower, together with the first bay of the side aisles, hold protected monument status.

Can visitors see the crypt? Beneath the choir lies a crypt where the lords of Meise and the owners of Bouchout Castle were once buried.