Zevenkerken Abbey Church
The Zevenkerken Abbey Church of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Andreas is located in the Sint-Andries district of Bruges in West Flanders , Belgium . The abbey church was built in 1911 on the model of the Basilica Santo Stefano in Bologna and bears the title of a minor basilica .
abbey
The abbey was founded in 1100 and settled from 1117. After a heyday in the 14th century, it reached a low point in the 16th century due to the Eighty Years' War . During the occupation after the French Revolution , the abbey was destroyed and dissolved. The steeple of today's parish church of St. Andreas and St. Anna is the last remaining component. In 1897, the Benedictine Gerard van Caloen from the Maredsous Abbey re-established the abbey a few kilometers south of the old location. His uncle donated the seven-hectare site, while other families provided the necessary financial support. The architect Wilhelm Rincklake , a Benedictine from Maria Laach Abbey , was responsible for building the complex. A school was added to the abbey in 1910, and the abbey also became very active in missions.
Abbey church
history
The foundation stone of the church for the new abbey took place on March 10, 1907, and the completion could take place in 1930. In 1952 the church was opened by Pope Pius XII. raised to the minor basilica. In 2009 the church was listed as a historical monument.
architecture
The church with the name Zevenkerken was designed on the model of the Church of San Stefano in Bologna, also called Sette Chiese, as a combination of seven particular churches, which represent the seven pilgrimage churches of Rome. It thus brings together various important styles of Christian architecture, with references to Rome, Byzantium, Poitou and other schools including Moscow as a symbol of the continuity and universality of Catholicism. Brick with natural stone deposits was used as the building material.
The main building is a three-aisled pseudo - basilica with an atrium with colonnade and a Marienkapelle in the central building, plus various side chapels, each designed in a different style. One side aisle closes with the St. Paulus Chapel in neo-Renaissance style, while the neo-Gothic St. John's Chapel closes the other side aisle in a semicircle.
The octagonal central tower rises above the atrium, which was designed in 1927 by the architect Jozef Viérin from Bruges. A high wooden domed vault rises above an arched frieze on the drum .
Furnishing
The main altar, dedicated to St. Peter and his brother Andreas, the patron saint of the abbey, with the ciborium dates from 1910, the crucifix and the candlesticks were created in 1951 based on designs by Michel Martens. The fresco above by Andreas Weiss shows Christ enthroned with his apostles. The choir stalls were made in oak after Edouard Schmitz in 1912. The backrests are decorated with Romanesque motifs. It was supplemented by a second part without decoration in 1928. Other altars are dedicated to St. Joseph and St. Consecrated to Benedict, in the latter case a mural by Saint Charlier shows the most important events in the life of Benedict of Nursia .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zevenkerken Abbey. In: European garden network
- ↑ a b c d Sint-Andries Abbey Zevenkerken in the directory of the Monument Office (Dutch)
- ↑ Benedictijner Abdij van Zevenkerken on gcatholic.org
- ↑ Joseph Delmelle: Abbayes et de Beguinages Belgiques. Rossel Edition, Brussels, pp. 28–29.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 35 ″ N , 3 ° 9 ′ 32 ″ E