Basilique du Sacré Coeur

On our way home from today's excursion, I suggested to Tintin that we hop off the Métro at Simonis to take a look at a church I had seen from a distance that I thought might be interesting. That church turned out to be the absolutely enormous Basilique du Sacré Coeur; commissioned by that famous Belgian "size queen" Léopold II (he is also the man responsible for the Palais de la Justice, which is at the end of our road). Construction began in 1905 but it was not finished until 1969.

From the outside it is impressive enough, a collossal art deco construction (indeed, wikipedia lists it as the largest art deco building in the world) that bears more than a passing resemblance to our beloved Cambridge University Library, but it was only on entering the Basilica that we realised quite how awesome it was. The pictures I have included unfortunately do not do it justice - both in terms of the scale of the place, and in terms of the rather spooky atmosphere (aided by dark corners and crannies and creepy tannoy music) - but will hopefully give you an idea of the general style of the interior. Probably the most spectacular sight we have seen since coming to Brussels.

Alas, nothing in life is perfect. It was only after paying our €10 each to go up to the top of the Basilica (which supposedly has some of the best views in Brussels) that we realised it was closed, and we had actually paid the entrance fee for the orchid show that was being held on the upper floors of the church:

EDIT: We have recently found out that the Basilique has its own bar in the basement, and so have decided that a return visit is most certainly in order.