Basilica of Our Lady of Good Hope

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Side view of the abbey church
Choir of the basilica
Floor plan of the basilica with Gothic foundations

The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Hope ( French Basilique Notre-Dame de Bonne-Espérance ) is a church in the district of Vellereille-les-Brayeux in the municipality of Estinnes in the Belgian province of Hainaut . The church of the former abbey of Bonne-Espérance bears the title of a minor basilica and is a cultural monument of Wallonia protected in the monument category .

history

The Premonstratensian Abbey was built in the 12th century; nothing has survived of its first church from 1132. Its tower was still used for the Gothic church built between 1266 and 1274, but then collapsed in 1277. The Gothic church was initially 100 meters long and 23 meters wide, but was shortened to 64 meters when the new tower was built by 1495. The church was devastated during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century. The abbey and its church were renovated in the 17th century, thanks in particular to the support of Archdukes Albrecht VII of Austria and Isabella . At the end of the 18th century it was decided to build a new building, the classical abbey church is the work of the architect from the Austrian Netherlands, Laurent-Benoît Dewez . The church was built from 1770 to 1776 using the Gothic tower in a different orientation. After the abbey was the only one in Hainaut to survive the consequences of the French Revolution well, the seminary of Tournai converted it into an educational institution in 1829.

In 1957 Pope Pius XII awarded the Abbey Church of Our Lady of Good Hope the rank of minor basilica.

Building

The classical church is designed as a three-aisled basilica . From the barrel vault of the central aisle, stitch caps with the upper aisle windows go off. The choir closes with a round apse decorated with columns. In addition to the statue of Our Lady of Good Hope from the 14th century, the 2.5-meter-high stone figures in the walls of the narrow aisles and in the choir, whose saints were especially important for the Premonstratensians, are significant.

Web links

Commons : Basilica of Our Lady of Good Hope  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of the basilica (French)
  2. ^ L'ancienne abbaye de Bonne-Espérance
  3. ↑ Basilique abbatiale Notre-Dame de Bonne-Espérance on gcatholic.org
  4. ↑ Interior (French)

Coordinates: 50 ° 23 ′ 8.2 ″  N , 4 ° 8 ′ 37 ″  E