CAROLUS BORROMEUSKERK
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Baroque church founded by the Jesuits, with a facade decorated in part by Rubens, the painting above the altar is always varied
This church, whose facade was decorated in part by Rubens, was built between 1614 and 1621 in Baroque style. It was built by the Jesuits in order to bring the faithful back to the Catholic Church as part of the Counter-Reformation. It is the largest church in the Southern Netherlands at the time. The interior is richly decorated. Rubens was at the height of his fame and, with his assistant Antoine Van Dyck, he painted a series of his biblical scenes as well as 39 coffers on the ceiling. All of them (except the ceiling of the Maria Chapel) were destroyed in a fire in 1718, while most of the paintings were confiscated by the Austrian authorities when the Society of Jesus was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. Some of them can be found in various museums (including the one in Vienna). Rubens' painting The Return of the Holy Family returned to the church of Saint Charles Borromeo in 2012, purchased at an auction at Christie's by the city. After a beautiful restoration, it has returned to its original place! During the Dutch period (1816-1830), the church became a protestant temple. It will become catholic again after the independence of Belgium. Another curiosity of the church is that you may notice that the painting hanging above the altar is not always the same: an ingenious original mechanism (which is still working!) allows to interchange three paintings according to the periods of the liturgical year.
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