St Peter's Church (Sint-Pieterskerk) is the large Brabantine Gothic church on Leuven's Grote Markt, facing the town hall. Its west towers were meant to carry a central spire of about 170 metres, which would have been the tallest structure in the world at the time, but they were never finished. Inside hangs one of the key paintings of Flemish art: Dieric Bouts's Last Supper, painted for this church in the 1460s.
St Peter's Church at a glance
- Where: on the Grote Markt in the centre of Leuven, directly opposite the town hall.
- Built: the Gothic church was begun around 1425 and was largely complete by 1497; the west towers were worked on from 1507 until 1541 and never finished.
- By: Sulpitius van Vorst, Jan II Keldermans and Mathieu de Layens, the same succession of architects who built the town hall; the tower plan was by Joost Metsys.
- What it is today: a parish church with a museum of religious art in the choir and ambulatory; its belfry is part of the Belfries of Belgium and France UNESCO World Heritage site.
- Time needed: 15 minutes to see the nave, about an hour with the art collection.
Two churches before, and towers that never rose
A wooden church, probably founded in 986, burned in 1176 and was replaced by a Romanesque stone church with two round towers at its west end. Around 1425 work began on a much larger Gothic church, built from the choir westwards in a remarkably uniform style. Its architects were also building the town hall across the square, which is why the two buildings feel like a pair. By 1497 the church was practically complete, though the old Romanesque west front, damaged by fire in 1458, still stood.
In 1505 Joost Metsys, brother of the painter Quentin Metsys, proposed three stone towers with openwork spires, the central one rising to around 170 metres. Work began in 1507, but the soft ground and lack of money stopped it in 1541, with the main tower at less than a third of its planned height. Partial collapses followed, and the towers were cut down to roughly their present height in the early 17th century. The church was hit again in both World Wars: in 1914 fire brought down the roof, and in 1944 a bomb destroyed part of the north side. A long restoration was completed in 2020.
What to look for
- The Last Supper by Dieric Bouts (1464–68), painted for the church's Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament and one of the earliest Netherlandish paintings built on a single vanishing point.
- The stone model of Metsys's planned west front, in the south transept, which shows what the towers should have looked like.
- The sacrament tower of around 1450, a 12-metre stone tabernacle covered in pinnacles, attributed to Mathieu de Layens.
- The Sedes Sapientiae, a seated Madonna and Child by Nicolaas de Bruyne from 1442, now the emblem of KU Leuven.
- The Baroque oak pulpit by Jacques Bergé, brought from the abbey of Ninove, showing St Norbert falling from his horse.
- Outside, the golden jacquemart added in 1998 on the gable of the south transept, which strikes a bell next to the clock.
The legend of Proud Margaret
A chapel in the church, dating from 1535, holds the shrine of Margaret of Leuven, known locally as Fiere Margriet. According to legend she was a young servant at an inn who was murdered by robbers in 1225; her body was thrown into the river Dijle and, the story goes, floated upstream surrounded by light. Five 18th-century paintings by Jozef Verhaghen tell her story, and the Catholic Church confirmed her veneration in 1902.
Tips for your visit
- Start outside: walk around the church to see the stunted west towers, which are easy to miss from the square.
- Allow time for the art collection in the choir; the Bouts paintings are the reason many people come.
- Respect services; the nave is still used for worship.
- Combine it with the town hall opposite, best seen in the late afternoon light.
Nearby
- Leuven Town Hall: the late Gothic town hall opposite, covered in statues, built in the mid-15th century.
- Oude Markt: the square lined with cafés, often called the longest bar in Europe, a couple of minutes' walk away.
- M Leuven: the city's art museum, a few minutes south, with a strong collection of late medieval Flemish art.
- University Library on Ladeuzeplein: the library rebuilt after the First World War, with a tower you can climb.
See Leuven with World City Trail
Our Leuven scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 2 hours, with about 25 minutes of walking. It includes M Leuven and Ladeuzeplein with the University Library. You can play in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.
If you prefer a different format, Leuven also has a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game.
Play the Leuven scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Leuven →
Play the outdoor escape game in Leuven →
Facts checked in October 2026.