Rochus Chapel (Neu-Moresnet)
The Rochus Chapel in Neu-Moresnet , a district of Kelmis , East Belgium , is a small chapel that has been documented since 1646 and was consecrated to Saint Roch of Montpellier , the patron saint of plague sufferers . It has been part of the Kelmis parish since 1946 and has been a listed building since 1983 . The members of the local St. Rochus rifle club have always seen themselves as the chapel's protection officers and take care of the safety and maintenance of the building and the facility.
history
The chapel was built at a time when the area was under the government of the Catholic Spanish Netherlands and the place consisted of a few homesteads and a few houses for the workers in the ore mines there . After one of the many plague epidemics in this area, the residents obviously wanted to build a chapel in order to be able to pray there for protection against infection. This chapel was then built in the middle of the former area of the hamlet Kelmis at the confluence of Grünstrasserbach and Hornbach shortly before the confluence with the Göhl and was given a new bell in 1651 with the inscription: "1651 + s.maria ora pro nobis". After Kelmis was raised to royal rule on September 29, 1650 and a chaplain was hired from 1662 , the reading of a mass took place daily either in this chapel or on the site of the ore mine. In the course of the subsequent wars of conquest of the French King Louis XIV , the place was repeatedly the scene of acts of war and the chapel was exposed to destruction and had to be rebuilt in 1686.
In the vicinity of the chapel, the residents planted a linden tree that could once have served as a court linden tree and is now almost four hundred years old. In the past, the chapel was affected by vandalism and robbery several times, most recently in 1982 when valuable items were stolen. Furthermore, due to its deep location between several stream systems, it was repeatedly exposed to the threat of flooding, which caused massive damage to the walls and interior.
The chapel finally received another extensive interior and exterior renovation in 2004, in which it was completely redesigned with funds from the Interreg program and at the same time protected from flooding by new drainage and paving and equipped with modern safety technology.
Building description
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The single-axis rectangular chapel was built in the baroque style in rubble stone construction with a hipped slate gable roof , which is crowned by a hexagonal roof turret as a bell tower. The entrance area with its arched door, above which a wooden cross is attached, is located in the main axis between two low-lying ox eyes , all of which are framed in bluestone . The nave extends over two bays , which are laterally equipped with small arched windows with wedge stones, protected by bars.
The interior no longer corresponds to the original condition and has been changed and renewed several times. For example, the wooden benches inside as well as the wrought iron protective grating date from 1985. The bluestone surrounds on the facade and the windows were renewed in 2004, as was the altar and the podium. Especially the art objects in the chapel, including the altar crown, the figure of the Mother of God and the altar wreath with St. Rochus are reproductions from the years 2005/2006. Only an ancient altar stone with four consecration crosses from the time the chapel was built, which had been found during earlier restoration work, was placed on the southern side wall as a sideboard in 1989.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kgl. St. Rochusschützen Kelmis with commendable initiative , in Grenz-Echo from July 13, 1989
- ↑ Petra Förster: Rochus Chapel shines in new splendor , in Grenz-Echo from August 13, 2004
- ^ Altar reconstructed piece by piece , in Grenz-Echo of July 24, 2006
Coordinates: 50 ° 42 '24.8 " N , 6 ° 0' 8.8" E