St Aubin's Cathedral

Late-eighteenth-century Baroque cathedral with a Roman-inspired dome and silvery interior

Built between 1751 and 1767 by the Italian architect Gaetano Pizzoni, St Aubin's is the only cathedral in Belgium fully in the late Baroque style. The exterior is restrained — a Roman-inspired façade and a domed central drum — but step inside and the effect is extraordinary: a pure white-and-grey nave under a deeply coffered dome, with light pouring down from above.

Look for the tall painting of the Beheading of St Aubin behind the main altar, the carved wooden choir stalls, and the small chapel that holds the heart of Don Juan of Austria. The cathedral treasury, in the adjoining diocesan museum, is rich in medieval enamels and reliquaries.

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A story
The cathedral's white-and-grey interior conceals a darker relic: a small reliquary contains the heart of Don Juan of Austria, the half-brother of Philip II of Spain and victor of the battle of Lepanto, who died in Namur of typhus in 1578. His body was cut up and shipped piece by piece to Madrid; the heart got as far as Namur and stayed.