Royal Crypt in Laeken

 

 

The Royal Crypt is situated in the church of Notre-Dame de Laeken and is the burial place of all reigning Belgian Sovereigns and their wives, as well as certain members of the Belgian Royal Family.

 

 

Queen Louise-Marie, the wife of King Leopold I , had expressed a wish to be buried in Laeken.After the death of the Queen, in 1850, a competition was organised for the construction of the Church. Joseph Poelaert was the winning architect. The new church is a neo-Gothical building with, behind the choir, a Royal Chapel and a Crypt. The church was consecrated in 1872, but only completed in 1907. In 1904, the old local church as demolished. Only the Gothic choir was saved. It is in the cemetery behind the present church.