Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk
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The Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk ( Dutch Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Hanswijk ) is a Roman Catholic church in Mechelen , Belgium . The parish and pilgrimage church in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels is consecrated to the Virgin Mary under the patronage of Our Lady of Hanswijk and bears the title of a minor basilica .
history
In the hamlet of Hanswijk, on the banks of the Dijle , a ship ran aground in the 10th century. It only became free again when someone brought a statue of the Virgin to the bank. The residents decided that Mary wanted to be venerated here. The chapel quickly became a popular place of pilgrimage. It was mentioned for the first time in 1263 by the Dominican Thomas of Cantimpré . In 1381 a church was built to worship the figure of Mary. In the religious battles in the 16th century, the church with the adjoining monastery was destroyed in 1578 and the original image was lost. The current picture, 1.45 m high, is made of walnut wood. The curly braids fall at the back and partly in front of the shoulders. Mary holds a scepter in her right hand while she carries the baby Jesus on the left. It leans on its mother's chest and holds an apple in its right hand. The image is carried through the city during the annual Hanswijk procession.
The statue was erected on July 30, 1876 by Cardinal Victor-Augustin-Isidore Dechamps on behalf of Pope Pius IX. crowned . In 1938 the church was placed under a preservation order. Pope John Paul II came to the pilgrimage on May 18, 1985 for his 65th birthday. In 1987 he raised the church to the rank of minor basilica on the occasion of the millennium of the pilgrimage.
basilica
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After the construction of a hall church in 1647, today's baroque church was built between 1663 and 1681 according to plans by the architect Lucas Faydherbe . The foundation stone was laid in 1663 by Archbishop Andreas Cruesen . It was in use from May 30, 1678.
The church shows an unusual combination of longitudinal and central structure. The three-nave forth from the entrance nave is through the broad after the third yoke rotunda interrupted by outgoing aisles. The pillars here had to be reinforced during construction. The rotunda has a diameter of 15.50 meters; the dome with the tambour is 34 meters high.
Furnishing
The pulpit, the most important part of the church's furnishings, was made in 1746 by the Mechelen sculptor Theodoor Verhaegen. At the lower edge two life-size figures represent Adam and Eve after the Fall. Yahweh, an old man with a beard, speaks to Adam. With one hand he points to the snake on the ground and with the other hand to the medallion in the pulpit, on which Mary is depicted with the child.
The four porticos are crowned by busts of the Latin church fathers. Those of Ambrosius of Milan and Augustine of Hippo are from Lucas Faydherbe ; those of Gregory the Great and Jerome were created in 1729 by the sculptor Jan-Frans Boeckstuyns from Mechelen.
The central floor is decorated with a labyrinth.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Basiliek Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Hanswijk on gcatholic.org
- ↑ a b Parochiekerk Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Hanswijk. Retrieved October 18, 2018 (Dutch).
- ^ Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk. toerisme.mechelen.be, accessed on October 18, 2018 (Dutch).
Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 20 ″ N , 4 ° 29 ′ 7 ″ E