Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Gothic cathedral in Brussels, Belgium
The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula is a Brabantine Gothic church on the Parvis Sainte-Gudule in central Brussels, built of pale Gobertange stone from quarries about 45 km southeast. Its west facade has two flat-topped towers flanking a recessed centre with a large rose window above three pointed portals, reached by broad steps from a paved square. The nave and transept date from the 14th and 15th centuries, and the facade with its two towers was built in 1470–1485.
A chapel dedicated to Saint Michael likely stood here by the 9th century, at the crossroads of trade routes on the Treurenberg hill. In 1047 Lambert II, Count of Leuven, and his wife Oda founded a chapter and brought Saint Gudula's relics from Saint Gaugericus' Church. Henry II, Duke of Brabant, ordered a Gothic collegiate church in 1226; the choir was built between 1226 and 1276, the nave and transept in the 14th–16th centuries, and the two-tower facade in 1470–1485. The church was elevated to co-cathedral in 1962.
Locals call it Sint-Goedele after Saint Gudula, whose relics Lambert II, Count of Leuven, and his wife Oda of Verdun brought here in 1047 from Saint Gaugericus' Church on Saint-Géry Island. The cathedral is Belgium's national church and the Primate's seat, hosting royal weddings, state funerals and the Te Deum on Belgian National Day. Since 2004 a pair of peregrine falcons has nested on the top floor of the left tower each breeding season, watched on screens on the parvis.
The building is easy to reach on foot in the city center and can be viewed from outside at any time. Visitors should come in the morning or early afternoon when natural light best illuminates the windows and artwork inside.
The towers provide nesting space each year for a threatened bird of prey, making the site an important refuge for this species in the city. Attentive visitors can observe the birds raising their young during certain seasons.
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