mARTa

mARTa is Mechelen’s new 300-capacity concert and culture room, opening in September 2026 inside the former Heilig Hartkerk. Its defining feature is scale-shifting: the church nave can hold 300 standing listeners facing a raised stage, then contract into a 50-person in-the-round setup or a 100-person flat-floor theatre room. That makes this a promising pick for close-up club sets, local showcases and artists who benefit from an attentive room instead of a large hall.

A church becomes a stage

The building began as a response to Heihoek’s growing population. Construction on the neo-Romanesque Heilig Hartkerk started in 1901; Mechelen city architect Henri Meyns designed it, and the church was consecrated on May 30, 1902. A matching presbytery followed in 1920, giving the site its paired church-and-house footprint.

Its later reinvention came in distinct steps. Religious services ended in 2014, when the Russian community received use of the building as the Church of the Theophany. In April 2022, the City of Mechelen took the church on lease and, with neighbourhood residents, renamed the project mARTa: Mechelse ART in the Adegemstraat. The September 2026 opening lands as the public result of that conversion, with local theatre groups and Heihoek residents staging De Grote Opening across September 17–20.

What the room offers now

mARTa operates as a sociocultural house as well as a performance venue: local organisations gain making and presentation space, while artists can use workspaces in the presbytery through RADAR development routes. Public room rental begins during 2027. The early programme leans toward theatre, dance, music, film and talks; the concert calendar also spans indie, folk, hip-hop, pop, rock, Latin, alternative and electronic. An acoustic divider allows simultaneous uses, and a former weekday chapel serves as rehearsal space. A kitchen-and-bar area opens onto the garden terrace, with drinks and light food available around events.