Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk

Ostend, Belgium

About

Church

The Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk is modeled after Cologne Cathedral and Vienna's Votivkirche.

Unusually, the monumental west front of the church does not actually face west, but east. This is so that the church puts its most impressive face towards travellers arriving in Ostend's port. The "east front" contains three portals, with decorative patterns in the tympaneum over the central portal. The images of Peter, the Virgin Mary and Paul were carved by the Antwerp sculptor Jean-Baptiste van Wint. High above the portal is a grand rose window flanked by blind arches.