In the heart of Brussels, Place Sainte-Catherine hides an unsuspected secret: a former harbor basin, now covered… by a metro station. An urban curiosity buried in the bowels of the district, where the merchant past and the modern network meet without a sound (or maybe the sound of the rails!). Discover the forgotten past that surrounds a well-known station in Brussels, the Sainte-Catherine metro station.
When Brussels was a port
Imagine Brussels criss-crossed by basins and quays, from which barges loaded with foodstuffs, fabrics or timber set sail. As early as the XVIᵉ century, the Sainte-Catherine district was indeed one of the beating hearts of the city’s river trade. Connected to the Willebroek canal as early as 1561, the Sainte-Catherine basin became a veritable economic lung, where the comings and goings of goods set the pace for city life. The port was so essential to the city that warehouses, market halls and taverns were built there . It was the busiest place of its time. Over the centuries, however, the water receded: competition from the railways, followed by urbanization, took its toll on the basin, which was finally filled in in 1853.
A square on the water
On this now dry ground, Brussels opened a new chapter in its history. In 1884, a fish market was set up on the former stretch of water, and the church of Sainte-Catherine, built between 1854 and 1874, took up its imposing neo-Baroque silhouette on the very spot where boats once docked. The square became a popular, gourmet, lively landmark – a place to pass through and meet people, yet one that still retains, beneath its cobblestones, the discreet echoes of a forgotten port past. Even today, the square is famous for its many seafood restaurants!
A metro in the footsteps of a vanished basin
When the STIB extended its metro network in the late 1970s, it chose to integrate a station right on the old dock. Sainte-Catherine station was discreetly built flush with the city, following the straight line of the vanished dock. The tunnel is narrower and the curve more pronounced, constrained by the historical foundations of the district. As a result, every train that passes through literally crosses an area that was once filled with water, sails and the cries of dockworkers. A simple stop turned time capsule. Can you imagine?