Sint Michiel (Lions)
Sint Michiel ( German : St. Michael ) is a baroque church in Leuven , Belgium . It is considered the most important Jesuit church in Belgium.
history
Today's Sint Michielskirche did not originally bear the patronage of the Archangel Michael , but was the monastery church of a Jesuit monastery on Naamsestraat. The actual Sint Michielskirche was located further east at the level of the Tiensestraat - at that time an important connecting route between the Rhine and the North Sea - and today's Hooverplein. This Romanesque church was built in 1165 on the spot where the Tiensestraat passed the inner city wall. The location meant that its high tower was not only used for religious purposes, but also served as a defensive belfry . After it had become very dilapidated in the 18th century, it was razed in 1781 and the parish moved to today's Sint Michielskirche. The heavy bell of the Romanesque Sint Michielskirche could not be brought into the new parish church because the new building did not have the necessary tower. Instead, it is now in the tower of the Sint Geertruikirche in Löwen .
The baroque Sint Michielskirche was built in 1650 by the Jesuits as a church for the surrounding monastery complex. One of their fathers - Willem Hesius - had made the construction plans for this. When Pope Clement XIV repealed the Jesuit order in 1773, the Löwen monastery was also closed and confiscated by the state. The Sint Michaelsgemeinde therefore moved from the Tiensestraat, the church received the patronage of the Archangel Michael and became a parish church .
During the French Revolution , the Sint Michielskirche - like the other churches in the city area - was confiscated and successively assumed the functions of a "Temple of Reason", "Temple of the Eternal" and "Temple of Law". It was not until 1803 that the community was able to claim the church building for itself again.
Sint Michiel suffered badly during World War II . On May 10, 1944, a bomb struck and destroyed the roof and vaults of the central nave. The richly decorated west facade remained - without any connection with the rest of the building.
The reconstruction then took three years (1947–1950) and in 1970 the building was finally listed as a historical monument . In 1983 the church had to be closed again due to dilapidation and was reopened in 1998 after a thorough renovation.
architecture
The architect of the Sint Michielskirche - Willem Hesius - was inspired by the Jesuit church Il Gesù in Rome when designing the building , but at the same time set the model for a number of other baroque churches in Belgium.
The layout of Sint Michiel is cruciform. It comprises the monumental baroque west facade, the three-aisled nave with a length of six traves , the transept , the choir and side choirs.
The most noticeable part of the building is the imposing baroque west facade, which is said to be reminiscent of an altar and which is why Sint Michiel made it one of the seven wonders of Leo as the “altar outside the church”. The facade consists of three floors, which are separated by richly decorated moldings and friezes . The rest of the exterior of the church is kept rather simple.
Furnishing
In the interior, the baroque confessionals made of dark wood , which were decorated by an unknown master with artistic angel figures, columns and depictions of the Passion of Christ , are particularly worth seeing . Above that, in both aisles, hangs a series of paintings depicting the stations of the cross. Numerous paintings had to be replaced after the devastation of World War II. In the altar of St. Joseph in the left arm of the transept there is a painting by Erasmus Quellinus II , "Triumph of the Immaculate Conception" (1665). The classicistic choir stalls come from the former Carthusian monastery and are in the Louis-seize style. The painting above the main altar is entitled “The Holy Maid Appears to Thomas Aquinas” and was painted by Victor H. Janssens.
Also worth seeing is the baroque communion bench , the designer of which there is disagreement, and which is decorated with fourteen medallions (some with images of Jesuit saints) and delicate carvings of angels, fruits and symbols of the Eucharist. The pulpit - made by Simon Duray between 1665 and 1667 - was originally not intended for Sint Michiel, but for the Cathedral of St. Michel et Gudule in Brussels , and had to be adapted to the requirements of the new patronage after its transfer.
The brass holy water font (1473) is the only work of art that still comes from the original Romanesque St. Michiel's Church.
organ
Sint Michiel had owned an important organ until the Second World War , but it was destroyed by the bombing. Since 1950 the church has had a new organ - the largest organ in Lion. The instrument was built by the organ builder Vd Loo & Zn. And has 38 stops on three manuals and a pedal .
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Coupling: II / I (also as sub-and super-octave coupling), III / I (also as sub-octave coupling), III / II (also as sub-octave coupling), I / P, II / P, III / P
literature
- Jacqueline Staes-Lambrechts: Het altaar buiten de kerk: de Sint-Michielskerk te Leuven , Löwen 2002, ISBN 90-76895-38-4
- Krista De Jonge: De Sint-Michielskerk te Leuven , Kultuurleven 1994, pp. 90-93
Web links
swell
- ↑ Torfs, JA , Geschiedenis van Leuven van den vroegsten tijd tot op heden, Löwen 1899, p. 328.
- ↑ More recent information about the organ as seen on March 8, 2016
Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 34.5 " N , 4 ° 42 ′ 3.3" E