The Temple de l'Observatoire (Temple of the Observatory) was a Protestant Christian church in Brussels, started in 1834 when a group left Brussels Protestant Church and called French Methodist missionary, Philippe Boucher (1811–1885), to serve as their pastor.
[1] This was because they preferred "evangelical, saving, pious" preaching[2] to the "rationalistic"[3] and "cool and academic" ministry of pastor Chrétien-Henri Vent.
Boucher's Chapel'[5] was at the time only the second dedicated place of Protestant worship in Brussels (the other being on Place du Musée[6]), the first building in neo-gothic style built in Belgium[7] and at one time was the oldest surviving building on the boulevard Bischoffsheim.
[2] Over the years famous members/adherents at the Temple included Charles Lagrange, professor at the military academy and author of works on the subject of the Bible and science, Jacques de Lalaing, a sculptor and painter, and, for some time, General Gallet, aide-de-camp to King Albert I.
[9] In 1837 a Calvinist-minded group broke away from the more Wesleyan-oriented church to form L’Église de la rue Belliard).