Looking like a Greco-Roman temple, the Eglise Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg sits on the edge of Place Royale. Originally a medieval abbey-church stood on this spot until it was demolished upon the orders of Charles Alexander of Lorraine. The new abbey and church was constructed between 1775-1776 and became the official church of of the Governors of the Hapsburgs Netherlands. During the French occupation of Belgium, the church was turned into a Temple of Reason and later into a Temple of Law. In 1802, it was returned to the control of the Catholic community. Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became the first king of Belgium, Leopold I, on the church's front steps in 1831.
Eglise Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg resembles a Greco-Roman temple.
The simple but elegant main altar.
On the right side is the altar dedicated to St. John Nepomucene.
Dedicated to Our Lady of Kindness, displaying the "miraculous" statue of Notre Dame de Bois-Le-Duc (1853), is the left side altar.
In 1793 this wooden pulpit was constructed.
All of the children of the royal family were baptized here.
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