Sint Jacob (Lions)
Sint Jacob is a church in Leuven , Belgium . Its architecture combines elements of the Romanesque , Gothic and Classicism . The Sint Jacobskirche is considered to be one of the seven wonders of lions, as its bell does not hang in the tower, but on its outer wall. Due to severe dilapidation, the interior of the church has not been open to the public since 1963.
history
Sint Jacob was built in the early 13th century and was originally a purely Romanesque church. The tower was built between 1220 and 1230. Probably due to a lightning strike, however, the Romanesque church was lost except for the tower. The reconstruction took place from the 14th to the 16th century in the Gothic style. The choir was redesigned in the classical style at the end of the 18th century. Unstable soil conditions put the church in a very poor condition in the 20th century. The foundations can only insufficiently support the heavy stone structure and the walls today have to be supported with metal scaffolding. The masses for the members of the St. Jacob parish therefore take place in a nearby building in the Goudsbloemstraat.
architecture
The Sint Jacobskirche is 50 meters long and 20 meters wide. The floor plan includes the Romanesque tower on the west side, the three-aisled nave , which is 5 traves long, the transept , two side chapels and the choir . The tower of the Sint Jacobskirche was built from white sand-lime brick and with its pilaster strips and arched sound holes is a fine example of Romanesque architecture. On the west gable you can still see the remains of a rose window and a column portal, which were walled up in the 14th century.
The nave, the transept and the side chapels were built in the Gothic style, with early Gothic (nave), high Gothic (transept) and late Gothic (side chapels) elements being found here due to the long construction phase of three centuries. The transept was built between 1457 and 1488 by the Löwen city architect Matheus de Layens , who was also buried in Sint Jacob after his death. The two large side chapels are in the corner between the transept and the nave, one on the north side and the other on the south side. The southern "Heilig-Kruis-Kapel" was built between 1488 and 1490, the northern chapel is under the patronage of Hubertus of Liège and is the only Gothic part of the church building that was built from brick .
The choir was built in 1785 from brick in the classical style. Inside it is equipped with monumental pilasters . The choir of the Sint Jacobskirche is the only classical example of sacred architecture in the inner city of Löwen.
Specialty
The most striking peculiarity of the Sint Jacobskirche is the fact that one of its bells does not hang in the tower, but outside in a bell bay. Since 1478 the church has therefore been one of the "Seven Wonders of Lions". According to legend, the bell was not allowed to be hung in the bell-house of the church tower, as it was supposedly not consecrated . The attachment of bells in bell cores is not very common in Belgium (unlike in Germany).
Web links
- The Sint Jacobskirche on the website of the Vlaams Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed (VIOE) (Dutch)
Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 49.8 " N , 4 ° 41 ′ 27.7" E