In 1134 King Godefroid I decided to build a chapel outside the city walls. It quickly became a market church, serving the many craftsmen living nearby in 1210 its popularity was such that it was made a parish church, but it became really famous in 1250, when a royal donation of five pieces of the True Cross turned the church into a pilgrimage site.

Originally built in Romanesque style, the majority of the church was destroyed by fire in 1405.  Rebuilding began in 1421 in a Gothic style typical of fifteenth century Brabant architecture, including gables decorated with finials and interior capitals decorated with cabbage leaves at the base. The Bishop of Cambrai consecrated the new church in 1434.

One of the most striking features of the exterior is the monstrously lifelike gargoyles which peer down on the community – a representation of evil outside the sacred interior. Another moving feature is the carved stone memorial to the sixteenth century Belgian artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder, who is buried here.