St. James' Church, Antwerp

From 1431 on, even before the church was built, the chapel on this site was a stop on the route to the burial place of Saint James the Great in Santiago de Compostela.

Unfortunately, due to the decline of the city from the mid-16th century on, financial problems eventually caused construction to be halted after the tower had reached just one third of its planned height.

In return, he was rewarded by being permitted to choose one church in Antwerp which would not be plundered, and chose St. James', thus saving the interior.

Among the Baroque interior decorations are the carved wooden choir stalls, created between 1658 and 1670, the opulent main altar (1685) and the communion rails of the holy chapel (1695).

The serie of sculptures (I, II, IV, VIII, IX, XII, XIII) executed by Joseph Geefs, the other by P. J.