St. Nicholas Monuments in Belgium

St. Nicholas, particularly beloved in Flanders, is found in many places besides churches. Click for larger images.

Sint-Niklaas

A large statue of St. Nicholas stands in front of the Town Hall in Sint-Niklaas, where he is the city's patron saint. The statue was installed in 1996.

Statue with tub — *Photos: Marcus Vankan*

Saint Nicholas is also on the top of the Old Parish House in Sint-Niklaas. Built in 1663, it is now home to the city tourist office.

Buildings — Sint Nicolaaskerk, Old Parish House, Old Prison
Photo: LimoWreck, Wikipedia

These reliefs are from the entrance hall of what was once a technical institute preparing young people for work in the textile and steel industries.

Photos: Herman Cole
Photos: Herman Cole

In 2021 the city created a colorful Sinterklaas mosaic out of thousands of colored stones. It was in front of the train station during the Sinterklaas season.

Liège

This spectacular window was originally installed in 1913 at the Grand Bazaar in Liege, first on the facade, then on a landing. The window disappeared in 1977 when Grand Bazaar went into bankruptcy. Found the next year it was taken for safekeeping to the Musee du Verre (Glass Museum). The window has just been extensively, and sensitively, restored. It will probably be relocated to the Grand Curtius museum or the Galeries Saint-Lambert, where it could again be seen from the street, not far from its original location. The year-long restoration recovered the window's original beauty, undoing changes from earlier interventions.

Stained glass St Nicolas with children — Photo: Le Vieux-Liège ASBL

Brussels

Dandoy Biscuiterie, across the street from Eglise Saint-Nicolas, specializes in speculoos biscuits. During Sinterklaas season, they offer large and small cookies molded as Saint-Nicolas. The two statues in the shop show Saint Nicholas as the patron saint of children and bakers.

Nicholas with balls and loaves of bread — *Photo: Michael Craske*

Nicholas with children in tub — *Photo: C Myers*

Medieval guilds built their houses around the Brussels town square. Rebuilt following the French bombardment in 1695, strict standards were in place yielding uniformity of style. The Grand Place stone houses were identified by name, shown by a small statue or other part of the decoration. Le Renard—The Fox—Number 7, was the house of the Traders Guild, with a statue of Saint Nicolas on top—the patron saint of merchants. The statue was removed for safety reasons around 2008. In 2018 a bronze replica was placed in the original position. The original 17th century statue was completely restored and placed for safe-keeping in Eglise Saint-Nicolas, Brussels.

Statue with children — Statue returned in 2018
Photo: Brussels.be

When the Brussels-Luxembourg train station was renovated in 2009 this St. Nicolas mural by Hergé (cartoonist Georges Remi) was installed. The drawing is from 1932 and first appeared as an advertisement in the newspaper Le Soir. The drawing includes these characters from the popular Tintin series: the urchins Quick and Flupke, detectives Thomson and Thompson, and the dog Snowy.

herge St Nicolas mural — Image: CultureTrip

Antwerp

The statue of St. Nicolaas, St Nicolaas Plaats, is in the courtyard with the merchants' guild Sint-Nicolaasgodshuis (church), founded in 1422. The statue tops the water pump.

Passage from the street — *Photo: C Myers, St Nicholas Center*

St. Nicholas is above the entrance arch to the pub Au Bon Vieux Temps at 4 Saint-Nicolas/Sint-Niklaas street.

Seated Nicholas with child — *Photo: C Myers*

Dendermonde

The St Nicholas relief is on the front of the court house. It has the three children Nicholas rescued and the turnip symbol for Waasland.

back to Belgium