The Maes Chapel

The six oval windows of the dome, as well as three round-arched windows, are of late Romanesque style. They are the oldest in the building.

The central stained glass window represents the Trinity. On the left, we find Saint Michael, and on the right, Saint Gudula. There is also the altarpiece of the Passion. Renaissance in style, it dates from 1538. An altarpiece is a painted or sculpted ensemble added above an altar. Originally, altarpieces were made of wood. This one, of exceptional beauty, is one of the first stone altarpieces in our region. It is made of pink marble and limestone alabaster. It has six reliefs and four niches on the sides, where the statues of the four evangelists once stood. Each relief represents a scene from the Passion:

• At the bottom left, we see Christ before Pontius Pilate.
• In the centre, the chalice, which recalls the cup of wine from the Last Supper, represents the Eucharist.
• On the right, it is the Way of the Cross.
• In the middle row, from left to right, we can see: the descent from the cross, the crucifixion, and the entombment.
• At the top, the ascension of the resurrected Christ is depicted.

On either side of this altarpiece, we can admire two statues: that of Saint Stephen on the left, and that of Saint Lawrence on the right. Both were deacons and martyrs. Saint Stephen was a preacher. He was one of the very first deacons, assisting the apostles in managing goods and communal meals. He died in the year 35. Saint Lawrence was the deacon of Pope Sixtus II. He was burned alive on a grill in 258.
Behind a display case, there is a statuette, Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel. This statuette, representing the Virgin, dates from the 17th century. The history of this small statue goes back to 1624, when the Countess of Berlaymont founded a convent of canonesses to provide education to young girls. To thank her, Infanta Isabella had this Virgin sculpted from the wood of an old sacred oak in the village of Montaigu (Scherpenheuvel). This tree, which had the shape of a cross, was considered miraculous since the time of the Celts and Germanic tribes and was the object of the cult of Our Lady of the Oak.
Also in the chapel, on the other side, we can admire a relic of Saint John Paul II: the display case houses a piece of his cassock. He was the first pope to visit our Cathedral. It was in 1995.