This central church mostly dates from the 14th to 16th centuries, with a finely proportioned stone tower that dominates Tongeren’s neatly cafe-lined Grote Markt. The basilica marks the first place north of the Alps where the Virgin Mary is said to have been worshipped.
Look in the north transept to see a much-venerated 1479 Madonna statue feeding baby Jesus with grapes. This image is piously paraded around the city every seventh year in the large-scale if very staid Kroningsfeesten (next occurring in 2023). The basilica's rich treasury forms the core of the new religio-historical TeSeUm museum.
