Saint Michael (Ghent)

Sint-Michielskerk, facade

The Church of Saint Michael in Gent ( Dutch Sint-Michielskerk , French Église Saint-Michel ) is a Catholic church from the 15th and 16th centuries.

history

The originally modest chapel burned down at the beginning of the 12th century. A larger new building was replaced by today's church from around 1440. The current building was built in two phases with a long break. During the first phase in the 15th and 16th centuries, the western part was built, i.e. the three-aisled nave and transept, which was completed in 1530, as well as the bell tower, from 1566, the year of the Reformation iconoclasm in the Burgundian Netherlands, to the second floor had flourished. During the subsequent Second and Third Huguenot Wars , the work was then interrupted. In 1579, at the time of Calvinist rule, the church was looted and damaged and the choir destroyed.

inner space

From 1623 to 1659, under the rule of Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain , Albrecht VII of Habsburg and their successors, the choir and chapel wreath were restored, and the completion of the bell tower was abandoned for financial reasons. The plans of the architect Lieven Cruyl from 1662, who envisaged a tower in the Brabant Gothic style like the cathedral of Antwerp , were not pursued, so that the tower still looks cut off.

Furnishing

Dying Christ by Anthony van Dyck

Inside there are altar and pulpit in the Neo-Gothic style confessionals in the style of Baroque , the Rococo and Neoclassicism , several statues from the 18th century and numerous paintings from the Baroque era, including one death Santander Christ by Anthony Van Dyck and works by Gaspar de Crayer , Philippe de Champaigne and Johann Bockhorst .

organ

View of the organ

The organ goes back to an instrument that was built in 1817 by the organ builder De Volder. In 1951 the instrument was modified and expanded by the organ builder Anneessens. The organ has 47 registers on three manuals and a pedal .

I main work C – c 4 Covered 16 ′ Prestant 8th' Fluit 8th' Covered 8th' Prestant 4 ′ Reed flute 4 ′ Octav 2 ′ Quint 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Mixture III-V Cornet V Bazuin 16 ′ Trumpet 8th' Clear 4 ′

II Recit C – c 4 Quintadena 16 ′ diapason 8th' Gamba 8th' Covered 8th' Vox coelestis 8th' Dwarsfluit 4 ′ Reed flute 4 ′ Octav 2 ′ third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Nazard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Rauschpfeife III Harm. Trumpet 8th' Bassoon hobo 8th' tremolo

III Positive C-c 4 Baarpijp 8th' Night horn 4 ′ Wilgenpijp 8th' Prestant 4 ′ Woudfluit 2 ′ Spitskwint 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Sifflet 1' Scherp II-III Dulciaan 8th

Pedals C – g 1 Subbas 32 ′ Prestantbas 16 ′ Subbas 16 ′ Echobas 16 ′ Kwintbas 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Octaafbas 8th' Gedektbas 8th' Koraalbas 4 ′ Cimbel III-IV Bazuinbas 16 ′ Trumpet bass 8th' Klarenbas 4 ′

• Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P; I / I, III / I, III / III as super octave coupling; III / I, III / III as sub-octave coupling

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information on the organ

Web links

Commons : Sankt Michael (Gent)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 13 ″  N , 3 ° 43 ′ 9 ″  E