St Rumbold's Cathedral was built in the thirteenth century. From the outset it was larger and more impressive than all the other parish churches and later on it became 'the church of the archbishops'. Originally there was a triple-nave cruciform church on the site of the vast cathedral. Only after a series of building campaigns did the church become our city's star attraction.In the religious wars in the sixteenth century the church took some hard knocks. Much of the old interior was lost to iconoclasms and plundering. Calvinist rule at the end of that century removed all references to Catholic worship. But the church had even more storms to weather. In the Second World War Mechelen was bombed and in 1972 a huge fire broke out. St Rumbold's Cathedral withstood them all.