Église Sainte-Croix, Gothic Revival church in Ixelles, Belgium.
Église Sainte-Croix is a Catholic church on Place Sainte-Croix in Ixelles. Its exterior is Art Deco: a brick and concrete shell built in 1940–1942 around the earlier neo-Gothic church, which remains inside. The facade has a steep gable with a cross, pointed-arch windows and a square tower with louvered openings.
A first church by architect Van de Wiele rose here in 1859–1863 on the initiative of parish priest Jean Joseph Dox, replacing a village church of 1459, and was inaugurated in 1865. Cracks from the sandy, unstable ground led to rebuilding: from 1940 to 1942 Paul Rome demolished the facade and tower and wrapped the nave in brick-clad concrete, giving the Art Deco exterior seen today. In September 1943 the church held hundreds of funerals for victims of the Allied bombing of Brussels.
The church gives its name to the Place Sainte-Croix and now forms part of the pastoral unit of Sainte-Croix d'Ixelles with the parishes of Notre-Dame de la Cambre/Saint-Philippe Néri, Saint-Boniface and Saint-Adrien. In the 21st century it also became a centre for Ixelles' Portuguese community. Among its baptised members are Marguerite Yourcenar and Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens.
The church stands on Place Sainte-Croix, at Heilig-Kruisplein 1, a short walk from the Étangs d'Ixelles and Place Flagey. The wide pointed-arch doorway at the base of the facade is the way in. It is an active parish in the pastoral unit of Sainte-Croix d'Ixelles, so visits fit around services.
The church holds a large bell in C sharp, acquired in 1893 under the priest Cornélius Van Dievoet, who also added a Gothic pulpit (1890-1893), a painted Stations of the Cross (1892) and a new organ (1897), partly funded by his own money. Marguerite Yourcenar and Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens were baptised in the parish.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,453 contributors worldwide.