Scherpenheuvel Vacations, Scherpenheuvel Vacation Reviews, Tourism Guide

Scherpenheuvel is the most important Roman Catholic pilgrimage in Belgium. It's next to Diest, and about 50 km from Brussels, in Flemish Brabant.

It's kind of the Lourdes of Belgium, where people go to honour the Holy Maria, and often light a candle. There are a lot of shops around the church where you can buy holy water, crosses, anything that has something to do with christianity i guess.

There is a song about the called 'te voet naar Scherpenheuvel'. Translated: going to Scherpenheuvel by foot. A promis that a lot of people make if something happens.

Its origins date back to the pagan worshiparound a holy oak on this hilltop. The cross-shaped tree was thus "Christianized" with a statue of the Holy Mary. Legend has it that around 1500 AD the Virgin Mary performed a miracle here, freezing into place a shepherd boy who tried to take home the small statue. In the 1550s, a flood of devoted pilgrims, came to the tree to pray for health and recovery of their ill loved ones.

The whole city should be an allegoric homage to the Mother of God. Seven lanes lead towards the church. Its layout is based on a 7-pointed star, which stands for the abundance of God's mercy. In 1609 the first stone is put in place for the unique structure in highly developed baroque style, which is finally inaugurated 18 years later. The streets and layout of the town itself had been designed to mirror the shape.

In 1927, the church was proclaimed a Roman-catholic "basilica minor".