Royal St. Mary’s Church

The architecture of the 19th century unabashedly refers to styles from the past. The building style of the church, constructed from 1845, is a hodgepodge of Romanesque, Gothic, and Byzantine elements. The semi-circular additions with galleries are Neo-Romanesque, while the Neo-Gothic can be found in the flying buttresses and pinnacles that support the dome. For that dome and the octagonal ground plan, architect Henri Van Overstraeten drew inspiration from the Byzantine Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.

Some shops along the Koninginnepleintje bear a Cyrillic inscription or another reference to Bulgaria ('Varna café'). Following the Turkish traders, Bulgarians, often from the Turk-speaking minority, also settled here.

Follow the sidewalk to the right and walk all the way around the church, toward Koninklijke Sinte-Mariastraat. At the end of it, another impressive building closes off the perspective of the street: the town hall, with which the rapidly urbanizing Schaerbeek consciously emphasized its autonomy from Brussels in the late 19th century. This town hall serves as the starting point for another DIY walk, 'Around the backbone of Louis Bertrand.'

• Walk towards the town hall, stopping just before the next intersection. Stop in front of the impressive façade of the Halls of Schaerbeek on your right.

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