Church of Our-Lady-across-the-Dyle

At the end of the steep street called ’t Plein is the Church of Our-Lady-across-the-Dyle. It was built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries on the site where Mechelen’s first parish church probably stood. The tower contains a complete carillon of 49 bells.

The Dyle church is home to some wonderful art treasures. Rubens painted a work for this church just as he had done for St John’s. The fishmongers commissioned him to illustrate the wealth of their guild as they had done by building ‘De Grooten Zalm’ (The Big Salmon) on the Zoutwerf. The large triptych entitled ‘The Miraculous Draught of Fishes’ tells the story of the same name from the Bible.

The fourteenth-century sculpture ‘Our Lady with the Crooked Hip’ is one of the highlights of the church. It is the only free-standing sculpture in Mechelen from that period and takes its name from Mary’s characteristic stance.