St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place
St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Antwerp. Give it roughly ~45 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type religious
- Suggested visit ~45 min
- Antwerp Antwerp guide
About St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place
The richest interior of any church in Antwerp, and the burial place of Pieter Paul Rubens, whose grave is marked by one of his own most personal paintings.
St James's Church, Sint-Jacobskerk, is the most sumptuously decorated church in Antwerp, built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries in a Gothic style enriched by Baroque chapels and furnishings. The church served as the parish church of Antwerp's wealthy noble and merchant families, and the competition between these families to outshine each other in their private chapel decorations produced an interior of extraordinary richness.
The church is the burial place of Pieter Paul Rubens, who is interred in the Rubens Chapel at the east end of the church. Above his grave hangs one of his most personal and moving works, 'Our Lady Surrounded by Saints,' in which Rubens portrayed himself as the figure of St George, and members of his family as other saints. The painting was commissioned and placed here by Rubens himself shortly before his death in 1640. The church also contains important works by Van Dyck, Jordaens, and other Antwerp masters, and its choir stalls, marble floors, and carved confessionals make it one of the most visually overwhelming interiors in Belgium.
Did you know? Rubens painted himself as St George in the altarpiece above his own tomb, and his beloved wife Hélène Fourment as the Madonna, making it one of the most personal paintings in art history.
How long is a visit to St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place?
Set aside roughly ~45 min for St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place worth your time?
St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place is among the 22 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Antwerp, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Antwerp
Hear the story of St James's Church: Rubens' Burial Place
Preview the Antwerp tour free in the Gingerguide app.