Religion museums in Belgium

The MAS – Museum Aan de Stroom is housed in a tall building with a spiral tower of 62 meters high and offers a beautiful panorama of Antwerp. The museum brings art and heritage of the city, the ‘stroom’, the harbor and the world together. The MAS unites the following various collections: the former

The Museum of the Holy Blood tells the story of the relic of the Holy Blood that Count Thierry of Alsace is said to have brought with him from the Holy Land (1150). Showpiece of the museum is the reliquary of the Holy Blood, made by the Bruges goldsmith Jan Crabbe (1617), with thirty kilos of gold a

St. Bavo's Cathedral Ghent is characterized by a collection of religiously inspired art accumulated over centuries. The oldest objects date from the 8th century, the youngest from the 20th century. A showpiece is the "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," a work by brothers Jan and Hubrecht Van Eyck.

The Church of Our Lady is a Gothic church from the 13th to 15th century. The collection of treasures includes twelve apostle sculptures that support the pillars, paintings by Jacques-Louis David, Bernard van Orley, Adriaan Isenbrandt, Pieter Pourbus and Gaspar de Crayer and the rococo pulpit with sy

The Jesuits built the Baroque church of St. Charles Borromeo between 1615 and 1621. Rubens had an important share in the decoration of the facade and the crowning of the tower.The apse of the main altar, the Marian chapel and the sculptures and carvings still testify to the former splendor.

Experience Centre - Beguinage of Kortrijk illustrates the living environment of the beguines. Beguinage Kortrijk is one of the 13 Flemish beguinages that is part of the world heritage. It includes 41 houses that date from the 17th century. The experience centre is located in the Sint-Annazaal, which

The Museum of St. Salvator's Cathedral is housed in the 1912 neo-Gothic chapter house. The museum displays objects from St. Salvator's Church, the demolished St. Donaas Church and the monasteries abolished in the French era. Visitors walk through some 13 centuries of art history, from early Romanesq

The Treasury of Tongeren Basilica features objects of religious art from the Merovingian period to the 19th century. The Basilica of Our Lady itself is a fine example of Gothic architecture. The collection in the treasury includes gospel books from the 11th century onward, reliquaries and shrines, t

M - Treasury of St. Peter is located in the choir of Leuven's St. Peter's Church, a fine example of 15th-century Brabant High Gothic. The collection consists of religious art, with paintings, silverware, furniture and sculptures, including a late Romanesque head of Christ. Also on display are two fa

The Our Lady of the Pottery Museum is housed in a historic hospital complex from the 13th century. The museum collection includes paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, stained glass, a silver collection, monastic and religious relics and healthcare items. The Gothic church with its baroque i

Trésor de la Cathedrale de Liège is housed in the annexes of the monastery where art is displayed and the history of the former principality of Liège is illustrated. Most of the Treasure Room comes from the now-defunct 'Saint-Lambert' Cathedral, including two 11th-century sculpted ivory pieces and t

The Turnhout Beguinage is on the Unesco World Heritage List. The museum's collection comes from the property of the Turnhout beguines. At the time, they acquired works of art and other objects to decorate the beguinage. The oldest pieces come from the first half of the 15th century. 'Beguinage 56' i

The Beghina 1660 Beguinage Museum includes an authentic 1660 beguine house. The museum is dedicated to the world of the beguines.

The most important work of art within St. Gillis Church is the Polyptych of Hemelsdale by Pieter Pourbus, featuring scenes from the life of Jesus. There are also paintings on display by Jan Garemijn and Jacob Van Oost, among others.

The Great Beguinage of St. Elizabeth is a testimony to the beguine movement in a setting of tranquility.

Museum Godshuis Belle is housed in a almshouse from 1276, which was a hospital first and later became an institution for elderly women. In the chapel, the Public Centre for Social Welfare collection is displayed, consisting paintings, sculptures and furniture. The highlight of the museum is a panel

Hospital Museum St. Dimpna is located in the old hospital and monastic buildings of the Augustinians, of which the oldest parts date back to the 15th century. In the museum, the visitor learns about the everyday life in a hospital and the life of the hospital sisters. Also the memories of Saint Dymp

Kunsthal Sint-Pietersabdij paints a picture of the abbey using the digital monk Allison. The monk addresses the visitor from a "movie guide. Most of the current buildings date from the 17th and 18th centuries. The refectory, however, dates back to the Middle Ages. In addition to the permanent exhibi

Trésor de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Tournai is the Cathedral Treasure of the Cathedral of Tournai. The treasure includes relics, sacred vessels, priest's vestments, manuscripts, books and historical documents. The cathedral itself has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Museum Parcum is dedicated to the history and culture of more than 1,000 years of Christianity in Flanders.

The Heritage Centre | Sisters of Charity preserves and tells the history of the Sisters of Charity and their achievements in the field of education, health care, and welfare. By extension, we tell the story of women religious in general, of their life behind the convent walls, and of the pioneeri

The Saint Godelieve Museum is located on the grounds of Ten Putte Abbey. The museum focuses on the life of Saint Godelieve, devotion to the Gistel saint and the history of the abbey. A showpiece in the museum is the tombstone of abbess Godelieve Payers.

Floreffe Abbey was founded by Norbert of Gennep in 1121 at the request of the Counts of Namur. The chapter house, which may date from the 12th century, contains a small museum.

The Folklore and Beguinage Museum is located in the 1288 beguinage of Dendermonde. The museum is dedicated to everyday life of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: household, living, work, leisure. The museum includes three old houses: a small dwelling converted into a beguinage, the infirmary an

The Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp is the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries. The cathedral is a treasure trove of various works of art by Rubens and others. Eye-catchers in the cathedral are Rubens' "Raising of the Cross" and "Descent from the Cross.

Museum De Mindere is part of the Truien Friars Minor site: that includes a baroque church with crypt and chapel, a monastery and remnants of old city walls. The museum paints a picture of 800 years of Franciscan history. It is concerned with Franciscan heritage across Flanders. The collection includ

The Jewish Museum of Belgium is housed in a 19th-century mansion. The museum paints a picture of the traditional Jewish way of life from around the world. The collection consists of various objects, books, documents and paintings by Jewish artists, including Stéphane Mandelbaum, Félix Nussbaum, Kurt

The treasury of religious art of the old collegiate church in Visé contains several works of art, including the reliquary of Saint Hadelin from the 11th and 12th centuries. There is also a bust of the saint from the 14th century.

Church Treasures St. Catherine is a treasury in the neoclassical St. Catherine Church. It is one of the most valuable church treasures in Limburg with various reliquaries, silverwork, 16th-century vestments and a monstrance from the early 15th century. A masterpiece is the Codex Eyckensis, the oldes

The Church of the Friars Minor (Ursuline Church) is a church building where the Friars Minor settled in 1626. Changing exhibitions are held in the buildings belonging to the church.

At the end of the 12th century, the abbey received the relics of St. Adrian and thus grew into a major pilgrimage site. This eventually gave it the name St. Adriaan's Abbey. The Abbot's House now functions as a museum. The second floor features furniture belonging to the Guillemin family, residents

Provincial Museum Beguinage Church is located in the late Romanesque, early Gothic Beguinage Church. The museum regularly hosts various exhibitions. The church itself contains a series of 38 wall and pillar paintings, dating from the 13th to the 17th century. Together they provide an overview of the

For more than 1,000 years, from its foundation by Saint-Remacle until the French Revolution, the Abbey Principality of Stavelot-Malmedy exerted a great influence over a vast territory, particularly from the Loire River to the German Empire. The Historical Museum of the Principality of Stavelot-Malme

Musée Diocésain displays the church treasures of Saint-Aubain, consisting of, among other things, goldsmith's art from the 11th to 18th centuries and paintings and sculptures originating from the parishes and former abbeys of the Diocese of Namur. It also displays medieval glassware, textiles and ma

In 2017 and 2025 renewed interactive experience centre, about Father Damien. He was sent to the Hawaiian Islands where he worked on the island of Molokai in the segregated colony for sufferers of Hansen's disease (leprosy), a terrible, contagious and incurable disease in those days. He spent the res

Mariënlof Abbey, also known as Colen Abbey, was originally a monastery of Crusaders, but in the last two centuries it functioned as a Cistercian convent. Since 1990, it has been allowed to bear the title of abbey. The interior of the church and sacristy date mainly from the second half of the 18th c

At Musée et le Chateau Comtal, several panels and archaeological finds depict the history of the site.

The Roosenberg Abbey Museum displays liturgical utensils, documents and works of art associated with the history of Roosenberg Abbey.

St. Martin's Basilica is a work of Brabant High Gothic. Portals, facades and interior of this church are richly carved. The church possesses some exceptional works of art, including a monumental copper baptismal font of 1466 and an alabaster altar retable of 1533. The collection in the Gothic crypt

Ronse's crypt, the St. Hermes crypt, was consecrated in 1089 as a repository for the relics of the city's patron "St. Hermes" and was a place of pilgrimage for the mentally ill throughout the Middle Ages.

In the museum, you will discover the history of the Geuzenhoek, the Protestant community in and around Horebeke from 1550 to the present. What was life like throughout the centuries in this enclave? And what is happening in the Protestant church today? In addition, the history of the Protestant scho

On the Hunnegem site, several museums are housed; The Museum Huge is housed in Hunnegem's Romanesque church and in the adjacent neo-Gothic Pax Hall. Besides the genesis of the town and the monastic community, specific themes are highlighted; monastic life, Marian devotion, Benedict, education, the

The Museum of the collegiate church from 1764-1778 includes 12 rooms in the outbuildings and sacristy. The museum displays goldsmith's art, cult objects, 16th-century rood screen, Renaissance reliquary of St-Begge, tombstones, Andenne porcelain, statues, manuscripts and printed matter from the 15th

The Provincial Museum of Ancient Arts of Namur - Treasure of Oignies is housed in an 18th-century mansion, the Hôtel de Gaiffier d'Hestroy. The museum has a collection of artifacts from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Among other things, it holds the treasure of the former priory of Oignies, on

Gaume Museums include the Museum of Virton, the Museum Papidaire and the Archaeological Park of Mountauban, the Museum of Rural Life of Montquintin and the Historical Military Museum of Latour.

Memorial Museum Father Valentinus Paquay is located in the former infirmary of the monastery. The museum is dedicated to Father Valentinus Paquay (1828-1905) "the holy paterke," who was beatified on November 9, 2003. Visitors are introduced to objects and furniture from the parental home in Tongeren

China Museum Scheut is housed in a missionaries' monastery. The museum paints a picture of the cultural, artistic and folkloric life of ancient China. The collection consists of ornate and striking objects brought to Europe by the Congregation of Scheutists, with the aim of familiarizing young missi

The Beguinage of Anderlecht is a small beguinage dating from about 1250 near the church of St. Peter and St. Guido. The oldest traces are 14th-century and a dozen beguines lived there. The museum paints a picture of how they lived on a daily basis. There is also attention to Anderlecht itself, about

The Florishof Heritage Museum takes visitors back to around 1900. The museum shows, among other things, the interior of an authentic fisherman's cottage, the village inn, an original chapel, the little school and the store from that time. Much attention is paid to old crafts and faith and devotion,

Musée du Trésor du Prieuré d'Oignies is a treasury housed in a modern convent guarded by the Sisters of Our Lady. Among its exhibits are Gothic religious chalices, crosses and reliquaries, many of which were made by Friar Hugo d'Oignies.

The Museum of the Orthodox Church displays various icons, some typical liturgical objects and priestly garments. Also on display are objects from the first Belgian Orthodox Church founded in Antwerp in 1900.

Museum of Modern Religious Art is located in the Basilica of Koekelberg. The museum displays a collection of paintings and sculptures by 20th century artists for whom religion was often an inspiration.

The Museum of the Black Sisters displays religious objects, furniture, silverware, artifacts.

The Lievens Museum paints a picture of the life of missionary Constant Lievens, who preached the Christian faith in India in Chotanagpur.

Musée du vieux cimetière de Soignies (Museum of the Old Cemetery) displays an archaeological collection from the Paleolithic to the Merovingian period. In addition, the museum displays sculptures, paintings, musical instruments, ceramics, weapons and African objects, among others.

The Tower Museum is housed in the 55-meter-high tower of St. Peter and Paul Church. The museum consists of five floors. All items and documents on display are related to the tower, the church and the carillon.

Among other things, Musée Marial Beauraing displays a number of statues of the Virgin with the Golden Heart, paintings and other objects related to the apparitions. The collection consists mainly of garments worn by the seers at the time of the apparitions, some of which still show visible traces of

The Museum of Jewish-Moroccan Art displays objects that refer to the various asepcts of religious and profane life, from the 18th to the 20th centuries originating from all regions of Morocco.

KADOC is a documentation and research center for religion, culture and society. The center aims to contribute to the development of cultural biography, the life story of Flanders, by focusing on the interaction between religion, culture and society. Changing exhibitions are organized.

Musée du frère Mutien-Marie is dedicated to the life of Brother Mtien Marie (1841 - 1917).

The Monastic Order Museum is a small doll museum with 200 habits of 149 different monastic orders.

Les Territoires de la Mémoire offer a symbolic trail dedicated to deportation under the Nazi regime.

Collections of the CPAS (Public Center for Social Welfare) include Brabant sculptures, Brussels tapestries, paintings by Brussels masters. There is also medical material and testimonies about life in hospitals.

Museum about Haspengouw and its local history.