Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Ostend: Overall view during construction

It is built on the ashes of a previous church that occupied the site. King Leopold II enthusiastically supported a plan to build a new and more magnificent church. Construction started on 1899 and was completed and consecrated by Bishop Waffelaert on August 31, 1908. Its stained glass windows were destroyed during the two World Wars and were replaced by windows by Michiel Martens. The church is 70 meters long and 30 meters wide. Its spires are 72 meters high. The church was built in the Neo-Gothic style according to plans by architect Louis Delacenserie, closely based on the ideal 13th-century Gothic cathedral published by Eug\u00E8ne-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc in his Dictionnaire de l'architecture fran\u00E7aise du XIe au XVIe si\u00E8cle (1854-1868).