Zoutleeuw

The church of Saint Leonard at Zoutleeuw is the reason to come to a town that otherwise has almost nothing: it is the only church in Belgium whose medieval interior survived both the iconoclastic destruction of the sixteenth century and the French revolutionary period, so the furnishings are still there. That means a brass Paschal candlestick of 1483 nearly six metres high, a stone sacrament tower of 1550 by Cornelis Floris rising eighteen metres in nine tiers, retables, statues, paintings, brasses and church plate accumulated from the thirteenth century onward and never cleared out. The town was prosperous in the medieval period, declined completely, and that failure is precisely why nothing was replaced or removed.

What you actually see

• An intact medieval interior - furnishings never destroyed or cleared.
• The Floris sacrament tower - eighteen metres of carved stone in nine tiers.
• A six-metre brass candlestick - the Paschal candlestick of 1483.
• Retables and statues - centuries of accumulated church furnishing.

When to go

April to October; the church has restricted winter opening. One to two hours. It closes on some weekdays, so check before travelling. Bright days help because the interior is dim.

Honest expectations

Opening hours are limited and the church is closed for much of the winter. There is essentially nothing else in the town. Public transport is a bus. Interpretation is largely in Dutch and the detail rewards preparation.

Nearby

Diest is west; Sint-Truiden and the Haspengouw orchards lie east.