Church of St Peter and St Paul

With its two openwork spires, the Church of St Peter and St Paul (Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk) is the building that dominates Ostend’s skyline from the harbour and the station. It is surprisingly young: the old parish church burned down in 1896, and this neo-Gothic replacement, designed by Louis Delacenserie with the support of King Leopold II, was completed in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Inside, the stained-glass windows are the main attraction, and the scale of the nave comes as a surprise after the busy streets outside. Behind the altar is the memorial chapel of Queen Louise-Marie, Belgium’s first queen, who died in Ostend in 1850; she is buried in Laeken, and the chapel can be seen on request.

Walk round the back to see the Peperbusse (the pepper pot), the brick tower of the old church that survived the fire and was saved from demolition by a petition. Entry is free, and a visit takes twenty minutes or so, easy to fit in on the way between the station and the centre.