Basiliek van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Kortenbos, Catholic pilgrimage church in Kortenbos, Belgium

The Basilica of Our Lady of Kortenbos is a baroque church with a single-nave cruciform layout built from brick and limestone. Inside, ten oak confessionals line the walls alongside eighteen votive paintings and twelve portraits of Premonstratensian saints.

In 1636 Elisabeth van Oeteren placed a terracotta statue of Mary in an oak on this then lonely, uninhabited spot between Hasselt and Sint-Truiden, where robbers threatened travellers. A chapel followed in 1639, first known as Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ten Nachtegaal bij den Kortenbos. From 1641 a baroque pilgrimage church rose to a design by the Franciscan Nicolaas Ray; it was consecrated in 1648, given a transept in 1655-65 and a tower in 1665, whose lantern spire with corner turrets was finished in 1725.

This site has drawn visitors seeking spiritual help from devotion to Mary for hundreds of years. The church remains a gathering place where people from the surrounding villages come together for worship and community.

The site is managed by Norbertine fathers from Averbode Abbey and serves communities from Alken, Kozen, Zepperen, and Melveren. Weekdays offer a quieter experience if you prefer to visit when fewer pilgrims are present.

This pilgrimage destination grew not from a grand church building, but from faith in a simple clay statue meant to protect travelers from bandits. It reveals how belief could transform a dangerous forest location into a place of hope.