Church of Saint James in Antwerp

Brief information

The Church of St. James grew out of a place for pilgrims who were on their way to the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. At first it was a guesthouse outside the city walls, then a chapel, and from the late 15th century construction of the present building began. For this reason, the dedication to the saint here is connected not only with the name, but also with the site's former function.

The main unexpected contrast inside: the church is known for Rubens's tomb, but its value is not limited to that. During the French Revolution, the interior was not destroyed, and so Antwerp's 17th- and 18th-century church appearance has been preserved here. The Baroque decoration, tombstones, altars, and Rubens family chapel help the church be read as a place where the parish life of a wealthy city merged with the personal memory of its artists.

What to notice right away

It is worth comparing the design with the building's actual scale. The tower was planned to be 150 meters high, taller than Strasbourg Cathedral, but only about a third was built. At the same time, the church is more modest in width than Antwerp's main cathedral: three naves instead of seven. In this way, the building immediately shows the gap between the ambition of the project and what was actually completed.

The details show how different eras were layered over one another. The south and west portals are associated with the Northern Renaissance, the building's foundation is Brabantine Gothic, and the present interior took shape as Baroque after the church was returned to the Catholics. Inside, this layer is supported by the main altar of St. James, the choir stalls, 1,300 tomb slabs on the floor, and the Chapel of the Virgin Mary with the Rubens family tomb. A separate detail for an attentive eye is the 16th-century fresco “The Last Judgment,” discovered during restoration in the Chapel of St. Roch: it is a reminder that earlier traces have survived behind the later decoration.