Notre-Dame de la Chapelle (Our Lady of the Chapel)

Frommer's Review

This Romanesque-Gothic church is interesting both historically and architecturally. François Anneessens (1660-1719), a Brussels hero who lost his head for campaigning for civil rights, is buried here. Anneessens was a champion of the freedom of the Belgian communes against the centralist rule of Belgium's Austrian masters. Condemned to death, he refused to plead for forgiveness, saying, "Never! I die innocent. May my death expiate my sins and be of service to my country." He was then beheaded in the Grand-Place. A statue of Anneessens stands in the square named after him -- place Anneessens -- in the city center, and you'll find a commemorative plaque dedicated to him in Notre-Dame's Chapel of the Holy Sacrament. Notre-Dame de la Chapelle is also the burial site of Pieter Brueghel the Elder and his wife; their epitaph is also in one of the chapels.

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