The elegant Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek is a large, mostly 14th- to 16th-century church whose stone tower dominates Tongeren’s neatly cafe-lined Grote Markt. The church marks the first place north of the Alps where the Virgin Mary is said to have been worshipped, and every seventh year in July a venerated 1479 walnut Madonna statue is piously paraded around town in the large-scale if very staid Kroningsfeesten procession .
The basilica's rich treasury displays other valuable artefacts dating back to the 6th century.
