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The Ducal Church of Our Lady of Alsemberg is a Marian place of pilgrimage and parish church. Since the middle of the 13th century, a Romanesque statue of the Virgin Mary has been worshipped in this church. It was supposedly given to the parish by Sofia, wife of Duke Henry II of Brabant. Tradition has it that the Virgin Mary desired from the Queen of Hungary, Elisabeth of Thuringia, that she should build a church in Brabant, on the mountain where the wormwood bloomed. The Romanesque-Byzantine miraculous statue of the Virgin, invoked as the “Star of the Sea”, dates from about 1200 and is carved from Hungarian hornbeam. Princess Sofia, daughter of H. Elisabeth of Hungary, who died in 1231, brought it to Alsemberg when she married Duke Henry in 1242.

Until the 14th century, a Romanesque church stood here, which was replaced by the present building from the 1350s onwards. The construction of the new three-aisled church progressed very slowly. The church is built in the late Gothic style and has all the characteristics of Brabant architecture from the 14th century, including the gables over the side aisles and the pillar capitals with cabbage leaf motif. The sacristy dates from the 17th century and was adapted in 1775.

In 1866, general restoration began and the slender, crowned spire was completed in 1891. The spire bears a ducal crown, referring to the role that various dukes of Brabant played in the creation of this sanctuary. The latest restoration dates from 1983.

Apart from the Romanesque devotional statue, the church possesses several other works of art, including a wrought-iron choir screen from 1770, two Baroque confessionals and a pulpit (end 18th century) by Jan van Geel. Baptismal font, of which the vessel dates from around 1200 and probably belonged to the original Romanesque church (side portal). There is also a marble baptismal font from 1725. Several paintings, some of which recount the history of the pilgrimage site, were painted around 1645 by Anthonie Sallaert. This Brussels artist also painted nine of the 16 portraits that decorate the sacristy and depict the benefactors of the church.