The impossibly slender white-washed columns of the Gothic structure rose to dizzying heights, drawing the eye upward to soaring arched ceilings that defied gravity and left little doubt the connection between Heaven and Earth. But it was the brilliant light inside the enormous cathedral that truly rendered this majestic marvel of the Middle Ages a sacred place of worship.
I stepped into the nave of Antwerp’s magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady, drawn to the light and to the peaceful beauty of this World Heritage site, the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries.
I stepped into the nave of Antwerp’s magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady, drawn to the light and to the peaceful beauty of this World Heritage site, the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries.
The moment felt truly heavenly standing in the nave of the cathedral.
We’d all gone our separate ways (me, Jimmy, friends Joan and Jerry) once inside, each of us lost in our own world of wonder. The size alone was overwhelming, all 8,000 square meters. The cathedral could seat 2,400 comfortably, although presumably it could hold 25,000. Not sure I’d want to be part of that Christmas/Easter Mass.
Priceless and holy works of art lined the aisles on both sides of the nave.
As the dominant figure in most medieval towns and cities, bigger was better when it came to cathedrals. Wandering this enormous cathedral (it has 7 bays, 125 columns, and 128 windows) I felt equal parts intimidation and awe despite my education and religious beliefs. I can only image what simple peasants, illiterate and impoverished, must have felt, their only knowledge of this holy place and religion gleaned from the stories depicted via the 'Poor Man's Bible" - the stained glass windows, the paintings, the plaques, and the statues that told the story of Christ, the story of saints, and the history of the cathedral.
 One of 55 stained glass windows in the cathedral. |  Statue of the builders in the front of the cathedral. |
 The struggle between good and evil was a common theme. |  Carvings above the main entrance to the Cathedral depict the Last Judgment. |
The cathedral was adorned with almost seven hundred years of history, among the artifacts a fourteenth century marble statue of Madonna and baby Jesus; wall paintings from the fifteenth century; a stately devotional statue of 'Our Lady of Antwerp' from the sixteenth century; four Baroque masterpieces by Rubens circa the seventeenth century; a tabernacle in the form of the Ark of the Covenant from the eighteenth century; neogothic decoration stems from the nineteenth century; sculptures in the main portal added at the beginning of the twentieth century; and as recently as 1993, a Metzler organ that was installed above the south entrance to the ambulatory.
 Frans Floris' Fall of the Rebel Angels.  The Madonna and baby Jesus attributed to the anonymous "Master of the Maasland Marble Madonnas."  Maerten De Vos, Otto Van Veen and Ambrosius Francken's Saint Luke painting the Virgin Mary. |  Flemish painter Peter Rubens' 'Assumption of the Virgin Mary'.  The Swiss Metzler Organ.  Our Lady of Antwerp statue, the Mary Chapel. |
Today’s Cathedral of Our Lady stands on the site of a 10th-century chapel dedicated to the Virgin and a subsequent Romanesque Church that was eventually demolished to make way for the World Heritage site. The choir and nave were first built between 1352 and 1411, with the west front built later, between 1422 and 1474.
Napoleon compared the spire to Belglium's Mechlin lace.
The North Tower, one of two originally planned, climbs to a height of 404 feet. The tower dominated Antwerp’s skyline the day of our visit, much as it has throughout the cathedral's turbulent seven-hundred-year history, an inspiring symbol of pride and power and faith for the inhabitants of Antwerp generation after generation. In 1533, when the structure was largely gutted by a fire, completion of the second planned tower was postponed in favor of renovations to the existing church and single north tower. Ultimately, the south tower was never completed.
During the Iconoclasm of August 20, 1566 (part of the Beeldenstorm at the start of the Eighty Years' War), a large part of the interior was destroyed by Protestants. A number of artistic treasurers were destroyed, removed or sold when Antwerp came under Protestant administration in 1581.
With the fall of Antwerp four years later, Roman Catholic authority was restored. Two hundred years later, in 1794, French revolutionaries who conquered the region plundered Our Lady’s Cathedral with the intention of demolishing the icon. The cathedral survived the turbulence and saw the return of various important works of art from the French in 1816, including three Rubens masterpieces. The cathedral was completely restored and refurnished during the nineteenth century.
During the Iconoclasm of August 20, 1566 (part of the Beeldenstorm at the start of the Eighty Years' War), a large part of the interior was destroyed by Protestants. A number of artistic treasurers were destroyed, removed or sold when Antwerp came under Protestant administration in 1581.
With the fall of Antwerp four years later, Roman Catholic authority was restored. Two hundred years later, in 1794, French revolutionaries who conquered the region plundered Our Lady’s Cathedral with the intention of demolishing the icon. The cathedral survived the turbulence and saw the return of various important works of art from the French in 1816, including three Rubens masterpieces. The cathedral was completely restored and refurnished during the nineteenth century.
If I could see the sky, more often than not, I could see the cathedral.
I’d sought the reassurance of that towering spire reaching for the heavens as we’d wandered the streets of Antwerp following our cathedral visit. I never felt lost in this Belgium city of half a million people. That spire was the one constant in an otherwise dizzying and delightful mix of the past and the present. I understood with a new awareness the comfort bestowed when faith is part of the journey.
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