BGM: Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Elizabeth Park, Brussels, Belgium
Daily: 8.00am - 5.00pm (winter) or 6.00pm (summer)

Pikachu and Melon are back! Let's continue from where we left off. Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the capital city of Belgium is a Roman Catholic Minor Basilica. Its construction began in 1905, but it was fully completed only in 1970 as it was halted by the two World Wars.

An architectural masterpiece, the basilica is situated atop Koekelberg Hill at Elizabeth Park. It's served by Simonis metro station.

Upon seeing the two crane-like objects, I was worried that the basilica was closed.

What a huge door!

There's a casual dining restaurant called Le Basilic.

Before entering the basilica from one of the side doors, I noticed one of the windows bearing a map of Korea. To propose a link, I can only think of the Belgian United Nations Command sent to South Korea to fight in the Korean War. 

Symbolically, King Leopold II laid the first stone of the basilica on the 75th anniversary of Belgian independence in 1905.

There were other visitors later on, but we were the only two people there at the beginning.

Cell groups, I suppose?

The building makes use of reinforced concrete with bricks, dimension stone and terracotta layering.

The basilica ranks fifth among the world's largest churches.

The two domes are 89 m tall.

The other half of the basilica was rather dimly lit.

The stained glass windows were tastefully designed by a Belgian painter named Anto Carte.

The building can accommodate up to 3,500 individuals.

Let's take a look at some of the adornments inside the basilica.

That's a rather different style from other crucifixion paintings I've seen before.

Then unfinished, the basilica was consecrated in 1935 under a special authorisation by Pope Pius XI.

By paying €5.00 (~S$7.80) per person, you can take the elevator up to see a panoramic view of the city. Unfortunately, we didn't go up as the machine refused to take my credit card somehow. We also didn't have enough coins.

There was nobody at the gift shop and the tourist information area, which were obviously locked up. Perhaps everyone was having lunch.

There are two museums there: The Black Sisters Museum and Modern Religious Art Museum. You can enter them with a ticket to the elevated platform mentioned earlier.