Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula

The Cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in the city, having withstood the bombardment of 1695. It also, surprisingly, escaped later demolition because the Jonction, the North-South railway line that was worked on from 1902 to 1952, runs by its feet and under the concrete road surface. Much of the old city was demolished during the construction of this tunnel; just look around - the only old building you will see is the Cathedral. However, this old lady does suffer from the vibrations caused by the metro and train under her foundations. During the restoration, which took decades, the pillars for the roof had drifted so far apart that the whole thing was on the verge of collapse. Deep in the night, the then curator sent for Sicilian miners to dig out the pillars and provide them with a more stable base, and so the cathedral was saved.

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