St. Rumbold’s Cathedral: Metropolitan Cathedral of Mechelen, Belgium
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Belgium
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- County of Flanders, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page20 sections
History
St. Rumbold’s Cathedral is a Roman Catholic metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium, built as a Gothic church from shortly after 1200. It is the principal church of the Mechelen–Brussels Archdiocese and the metropolitan church of the Belgian ecclesiastical province. Dedicated to St. Rumbold, an Irish Christian missionary and martyr traditionally linked with the conversion of the Mechelen region, it developed from a collegiate foundation into an important archiepiscopal cathedral.
Early religious foundations
A religious center associated with St. Rumbold is thought to have stood outside the later city walls. In Mechelen’s center, a ninth-century chapel dedicated to him remained until it was demolished in 1798. Around 1000, Bishop Notger founded a chapter of St. Rumbold, a body of clergy established to serve the church. A collegiate church was built afterward, and in 1134 its parish title was transferred to the chapter. The present cathedral was probably constructed on or near the site of this earlier church.
Medieval construction
Construction of the present church began shortly after 1200. It was consecrated in 1312, when part of the building was usable, and initially served as a collegiate church. From 1324, the flying buttresses and the revised choir took on the characteristics of Brabantine Gothic, a regional form of Gothic architecture that developed in the historic Duchy of Brabant.
A city fire in 1342 led to repairs directed by the master mason Jean d’Oisy. He continued the building campaign until his death in 1375, and the work became an early model of High Brabantine Gothic. His successors completed the nave vaults by 1437 and the choir vaults by 1451, bringing the principal church structure toward completion.
The tower campaign
The final major construction phase lasted from 1452 to about 1520 and concentrated on the west tower. Members of the Keldermans family of master builders led the work. Pilgrims financed the project at first, followed later by the city. The foundations had begun in 1449, and Jan Van Musene laid the foundation stone on 22 May 1452.
The planned tower was to reach 600 Mechlinian feet, approximately 167 metres, with a 77-metre spire. Its upper completion was abandoned for financial reasons rather than technical difficulties. The religious wars placed pressure on city finances, while the explosion of the old Zandpoort in 1546 destroyed about one-third of Mechelen and killed approximately 200 people. Only about seven metres of the intended spire were built, leaving the tower with its characteristic flat-topped outline.
Cathedral and religious conflicts
St. Rumbold’s became a cathedral in 1559, when the Diocese of Mechelen was established by the papal bull Super universas. As a metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral, it became the principal church of the archdiocese and the seat of its metropolitan archbishop, who holds a coordinating position among the dioceses of the ecclesiastical province. The cathedral follows the Roman rite.
The religious conflicts of 1566 to 1585 brought major disruption. The cathedral escaped the Iconoclasm of 1566, a wave of attacks on religious images and furnishings, but Mechelen was sacked during the three-day Spanish Fury of 1572. Further pillaging followed during the English Fury of 1580. Under Calvinist rule from 1580 to 1585, the church was used for Protestant worship, and furnishings associated with Roman Catholic worship were removed. It was reconciled for Catholic use on 4 August 1585. St. Rumbold’s relics were scattered during these upheavals and later reassembled by local devotees.
Later changes and preservation
During the eighteenth century, the carved cabbage-leaf ornament around the capitals was replaced by a double ring of foliage. In 2005, engineers discussed whether the spire could be completed after examining the load-bearing capacity of the tower and its ground, but the original design remained unfinished.
During the First World War, German artillery damaged the tower after Belgian soldiers used it to signal to Fort Walem despite a German ultimatum. Restoration followed the war, and a fire caused further damage in 1972. Archaeological excavations before construction of an underground car park on the cathedral’s north side uncovered 4,165 skeletons from the former cemetery in 2010. In 2026, remains of an older church were found beneath the floor of the chapter room.
The tower was inscribed in 1999 as part of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Belfries of Belgium and France,” which was extended in 2005. The designation recognizes its architectural importance and historic civic functions, including its use as a watchtower and signaling point. The cathedral is also protected heritage in Flanders under monument number 74569. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass there in 1985, while the continuing veneration of St. Rumbold and the preservation of relics associated with him maintain the building’s religious identity.
Remains
St. Rumbold’s Cathedral is a three-aisled Gothic cruciform church built from white Brabant sandstone and Tournai limestone. It is approximately 118 metres long, with a transept about 41.20 metres long and a central nave vault approximately 28 to 29 metres high. The church and its west tower were designed as structurally separate buildings, a relationship reflected in the tower’s deliberately weak connection to the church.
Church structure
The main entrance beneath the tower opens into the nave. Gothic columns line the interior and carry statues of the apostles. At the rear of the nave stands a Neo-Gothic rood screen with the principal church organ. The church’s large scale, cruciform plan, stone construction, and high vaults preserve the architectural development that began in the early thirteenth century and continued through the Brabantine Gothic building phases.
The Baroque pulpit
A naturalistic oak Baroque pulpit was carved by Michiel van der Voort with assistance from Theodoor Verhaegen between 1721 and 1723. Its scenes depict the conversion of Norbertus, the Crucifixion, and the temptation of Adam and Eve. The sounding board represents the crown of the Tree of Knowledge. The pulpit was originally made for the Norbertine convent of Leliendaal. After the convent was destroyed, it was moved to the cathedral in 1809, where Jean-François Van Geel added a new back and rebuilt it around a column. A terracotta model from 1721 preserves the record of these alterations.
Organs and paintings
The main organ was built by Stevens in 1957. A smaller Stevens organ installed in 1919 has 30 stops, two manual keyboards, and a pedalboard. In a side aisle, Christ on the Cross, painted by Anthony van Dyck in 1630, was transferred from the Franciscan church. Other interior paintings are attributed to Abraham Janssens, Gaspar de Crayer, and Michiel Coxie.
Choir and devotional furnishings
High altar and tomb monuments
The choir contains a Baroque high altar executed by Lucas Faydherbe in 1665. Faydherbe also contributed substantially to the cathedral’s Baroque decoration. The altar includes the shrine of St. Rumbold and is associated with 25 paintings illustrating the saint’s life. Sculptures by Lucas Faydherbe and Michiel Vervoort stand among the cathedral’s other works, alongside apostle statues and archiepiscopal tomb monuments. Faydherbe made the monument to Archbishop Andreas Creusen beside the high altar, while another monument commemorates Archbishop Matthias Hovius.
Choir ambulatory and stained glass
The choir ambulatory contains 33 heraldic shields associated with a 1491 chapter meeting of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This prestigious chivalric order used heraldic shields to represent participants at its chapter meetings. The shields were undergoing restoration in 2022. The interior also contains stained-glass windows, including one depicting the Black Madonna image with a white face, as well as small heraldic shields and surviving furnishings.
West tower
The west tower rises approximately 97.3 metres and has a flat-topped, unfinished silhouette. It was designed to reach about 167 metres, including the planned spire, but only about seven metres of that spire was built. The foundations are approximately three metres deep. The ground was formerly described as wetlands, although later excavations may have indicated sand rather than unreliable marshland. The tower’s seven principal levels include the crane room, smithy room, bell room, clock room, carillon room, and the ash cellar beneath the unbuilt spire.
Crane and smithy rooms
The crane room retains the former mechanism used to raise heavy building materials. Nine people operated a large treadwheel to power it. Some bells were lifted through the tower, while others, including Karel and Salvator, were hoisted externally. The smithy room once served for small repairs. It now contains the weights for the clock and striking mechanisms, which were renewed in 2019.
Bell room
The bell room contains a large bell frame dating from 1758 and six bass bells. Salvator was cast in 1844, Karel in 1696, Rumoldus in 1861, Sint-Jan Berchmans in 1947, Magdalena in 1697, and Libertus in 1766. Sint-Jan Berchmans replaced Maria, cast in 1498. These six bells can operate both as ringing bells and as carillon bells. They are motor-driven, and the ringing system was restored in 2011.
The tower contains 49 bells in total. The oldest dates from 1480, while most were cast in Amsterdam in 1674 by Pieter Hemony. The bourdon Salvator weighs eight tonnes and strikes the hours. The bells range in weight down to approximately 16 kilograms, and the six largest can swing.
Clock and carillons
The historic carillon comprises 49 historic bells. The clock room contains a sixteenth-century clock and an eighteenth-century playing drum weighing approximately 1,700 kilograms. A lead-filled mechanism weighing approximately 2,000 kilograms drives the drum, which has operated automatically since 12 November 1736. Severe wear in its bearings was found during restoration in 2018 and 2019. A non-original keyboard installed in 1952 was replaced with a copied keyboard, and the restored instrument returned to service on 12 November 2019. It plays programmed melodies at regular intervals and formerly also sounded during the half-quarter hours.
A second, newer concert carillon of 49 bells occupies the carillon room. Eijsbouts of Asten in the Netherlands cast the bells in 1981. They are played manually from a baton keyboard. The room also retains the former automatic striking equipment, which has not been used since the restoration of the historic carillon.
Ash cellar and clock faces
The ash cellar at the top of the tower was intended to store mortar for the unfinished spire. The former clock faces had diameters of 12 metres and were among the largest of their kind in the world. Damage during the First World War was followed by deterioration through rust, and the faces were removed during tower restoration in 1963.
Relics and treasury
The relics venerated as those of St. Rumbold are kept in a shrine in the retro-choir. Examination of the remains indicated a life span of approximately 40 years and a death date between 580 and 655, rather than the traditional date of 775. The belief that the remains are buried within the cathedral is preserved as a tradition.
The cathedral treasury contains the large shrine of St. Rumbold, surviving goldsmiths’ work, and liturgical vessels in Neo-style forms. Its collection of liturgical textiles includes large pontifical vestments commissioned on behalf of the metropolitan chapter, a large white silk vestment presented to Cardinal Mercier, and a gold pontifical set associated with Cardinal d’Alsace.
Upper-tower adaptation
A glass viewing platform was installed at the top of the tower in 2009 as part of an adaptation for interactive visits. In clear weather, it provides views toward Antwerp Cathedral to the north and the Atomium in Brussels to the south.
Nearby sites
