Sacred Heart Cathedral

Belgium is a modern country that was only established in 1830. At that time, France had a great influence, so the first king, Leopold I, wanted to imitate France and build a temple of ancestors for Belgium. However, the Belgians thought it was not appropriate for their country. So the king was embarrassed and had to compromise by building a church instead. He wanted to imitate the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris and build a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart. The Belgians were practical and skeptical, thinking that the king just wanted to raise taxes to achieve his own goals. They told him that if he wanted to achieve something, he should use his own money instead of taxing them. If he dared to raise taxes, they would make him meet the fate of King Louis XVI of France. Leopold said he wouldn't raise taxes and decided to colonize Africa to achieve his goals. And so, it wasn't until 1905 (the 75th anniversary of Belgian independence) that Belgium had the funds to begin building this cathedral. However, construction was delayed by two world wars and it wasn't completed until 1969. The cathedral belongs to the Catholic Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels and is the sixth largest Catholic cathedral in the world by area.