in 1787, and designed by Gilles-Barnabé Guimard after the designs of Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré. It succeeds two neighbouring places of worship; the chapel of the Coudenberg Palace and the Coudenberg's abbey church, both demolished by command of Charles Alexander of Lorraine during his expansive urban planning projects, despite having escaped the great fire of 1731 that destroyed the palace. The first stone was solemnly laid by Charles Alexander of Lorraine on 12 February 1776, and the portico was finished in 1780. The nave, transept, choir and sacristy were built under supervision of Louis Montoyer in 1785–86. During the French Revolution, the abbey was suspended and the church was made into a Temple of Reason, and then later into a Temple of Law. The church was returned to Catholic control in 1802. On 21 July 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha took the oath that made him H.M. Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, on the front steps of the church. The building lost somewhat of its typical neoclassical temple-like appearance by the addition, in the 19th century, of a dome and bell tower (after the design of the architect Tilman-François Suys), as well as a coloured fresco by the painter Jean Portaels on the pediment. The church's interior and facade have been protected through a royal decree since 2 December 1959. Statue of Godfrey of Bouillon At the centre of the square is an equestrian statue of Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the first crusade in 1096. The first equestrian statue to adorn Brussels, it was sculpted by Eugène Simonis and inaugurated on 15 August 1848 to replace the statue of Charles Alexander of Lorraine by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, which had been melted down for the value of the metal during the French rule over Brussels. A new statue of Charles Alexander of Lorraine was eventually placed nearby on the current /. The statue represents Godfrey of Bouillon as he leaves for the First Crusade; the hero waves the standard and cries ("God wills it!"). In 1897, two bronze bas-reliefs by Guillaume de Groot were built into the statue's pedestal. One represents the Assault on Jerusalem led by Godfrey, who took the city on 15 July 1099. The other represents the Assizes of Jerusalem, a collection of laws and ordinances which were never promulgated by him. Pavilions The eight corner pavilions, built between 1776 and 1782, represent a