St. Servatius (Grimbergen)
The Church of St. Servatius ( Dutch Sint-Servaasbasiliek ) is a Roman Catholic church in Grimbergen , Belgium . The parish church and abbey church of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Grimbergen in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels was built in the 17th century in the Baroque style. It is consecrated to Servatius of Tongeren and has the title of a minor basilica .
history
The canons, also known as Norbertines after their founder Norbert von Xanten , founded an abbey in Grimbergen in 1126 . After the wars of religion in the 17th century, the politics of Albrecht and Isabella (1598–1621) began a peaceful and prosperous time in the Spanish Netherlands . The abbey church was built from 1660 to 1700 in the heyday of the abbey by the architect Gilbertus van Zinnik in the baroque style. Its length of 60 meters consists of a long priestly choir and a shortened nave with only two bays. A 45 meter high dome rises above the crossing , the bell tower rises 58 meters high. It is furnished with important altars. In 1937 the church was placed under a preservation order. In 1998 Pope John Paul II elevated the abbey church to the rank of a minor basilica.
Organs
The current organ in the back of the church was ordered by Abbot Van Eeckhout in 1745 as a replacement from the well-known organ builder Jean-Baptiste Forceville and was not completed until 1751, a year after Jean-Baptiste Goynaut's death. The sculptures and carvings come from the Brussels sculptor Piet Doncker.
In the second half of the 18th century the organ was successfully revised, the changes made in 1910 by the Brussels organ builder Jean-Emile Kerkhoff were seen as less fortunate. In 2004 another restoration was carried out. The organ now has 41 registers and is tuned in the Dutch-German style, it is called the Bach organ .
Since 1999 there has been a single manual organ in the entrance area of the church by Joris Potvlieghe.
Carillon
The Premonstratensians were the earliest propagandists of the art of carillon . In 1716 the second carillon was created by the Antwerp bell founder William Witlockx and expanded to 41 bells by the end of the 18th century, which were then stolen during the French occupation.
The third carillon was in 1928 after the 800th anniversary of the abbey by the parish at Marcel Michiels jr. ordered from Tournai with 34 bells. It was installed in 1931, but the sound was disappointing. A new carillon was installed by Canon Feyen in 1964 with 48 bells and received a 49th bell in 1998.
Web links
- Abbey website (Dutch)
Individual evidence
- ↑ abdijkerk Sint-Servatius (Dutch)
- ↑ Sint-Servaasbasiliek on gcatholic.org
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 0 ″ N , 4 ° 22 ′ 16 ″ E