Laken
Grafgalerijen kerkhof
Architect: Origin

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Restoration works

The churchyard at Laken is the oldest in Brussels, and the last graveyard actually in use around the church. Part of the churchyard has been a protected site since 14 January 1999.

Restoration works

The churchyard at Laken is the oldest in Brussels, and the last graveyard actually in use around the church. Part of the churchyard has been a protected site since 14 January 1999.

The burial galleries project was developed by the alderman of public works, Emile Bockstael, due to a shortage of space in the graveyard.

Construction began in 1876 and the final building phase took place in 1935. The principle was to place the bodies in separate hermetically sealed niches in order to avoid odours. The oldest part of the galleries, including the connected monuments above ground, was listed on 6 February 1997.

The galleries consist of 4061 niches for individual coffins and several large exceptional burial vaults for the eminent families of Brussels, such as Bockstael, Poelaert, Van Volxem, ...

The construction methods used are highly varied: structures in brick masonry, reinforced concrete structures, metal profiles, cladding in imitation stone, stone cladding, ... The underground niches are connected to monuments above ground. There are different types of funerary monuments on top of the galleries: monuments taking up a column of niches, i.e. five cells, monuments taking up two columns, i.e. 10 niches, or large burial vaults connected to important monuments, up to 21 cells (such as the burial vault of the Vaxelaire family).

The most important cause of the degradation of the construction which was endangering the stability and causing damage to the sculptures and tombstones was water infiltration.