Saint Andrew's Church, Antwerp

In 1510, friars from an Augustinian monastery in Enkhuizen arrived in Antwerp to establish a mission following a donation of land on the Ridderstraat by citizens Joost Hoens and Marc Mussche.

The Augustinian friars completed and consecrated a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity on their Ridderstraat site in 1513.

Following the dissolution of the Augustinian monastery, Pope Adrian VI signed the bull of foundation in the summer of 1523 to convert the property into a parish church dedicated to Saint Andrew.

The former Augustinian convent chapel was expanded and formally consecrated as the parish church of St. Andrew in 1529.

The church interior was significantly damaged and destroyed during the Beeldenstorm of 1566, a wave of iconoclasm that swept through the Netherlands.

From 1568, the church was shared between Catholic and Calvinist groups, a division that was made permanent by a wall built in 1579 before Calvinists seized total control in 1581.

A major building campaign began in the mid-17th century, which included building an arch over the nave and rebuilding and expanding the transept that had been destroyed during the Calvinist period.

Following the collapse of the original church tower in 1755, a new Baroque-style tower designed by Engelbert Baets was erected within the western bay of the nave.

After the French revolutionary period, the church was officially reinstated as the parish church of St. Andrew's in 1802 following the Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and the Pope.

The church suffered significant destruction and partial burning during the Dutch bombardment of Antwerp in 1830, which necessitated further repairs and restoration.

Beginning in 1863, the church underwent a project to install new stained glass windows crafted in the Gothic Revival style.

The church's northern stained glass windows were destroyed on January 2, 1945, due to the blast from a German V-1 flying bomb; they were subsequently replaced by designs from Jan Huet.