Rubens turned interior designer as part of the team that created this superb 1621 baroque church, designed to give worshippers a very visceral foretaste of heaven's delights. A wonder of its era, the remarkable altarpiece allowed vast canvases to be changed using a series of wire pulleys.
Magnificently carved-angel confessionals were installed after a disastrous 1718 fire that ruined the original nave and destroyed 39 original Rubens' ceiling panels. In 1773 the church's surviving Rubens paintings were whisked off to Vienna after the Jesuits were disbanded locally.
