Westmonsterkerk
The Westmonsterkerk or Sint Maartenskerk ( German Westmünster- or Sankt-Martins-Kirche ) was the oldest parish church of Middelburg in the Dutch province of Zeeland .
history
The church was first donated around 1000 as an own church on a royal estate. In 1012 this nucleus of Middelburg auf Walcheren was given to Count Boudewijn II as a fief by Heinrich II. During the 11th century the church became the own church of the Bishop of Utrecht. Before 1050, new daughter churches in Westkapelle , Oostkapelle and West-Souburg were parish off. At the end of the 11th century it became necessary to found another parish church in Middelburg, and so the north minster Sint Pieter (German: Sankt Peter) was parish off from the Westmünster . In the course of the division, the Utrecht bishop subordinated the west minster to St. Paul's abbey in Utrecht, and the north minster to the Utrecht chapter of St. Pieter . The Westmünster Church, located in the center of the market, was the center of the village and the most important market in the region. The Reformation found its way into Middelburg in 1566/67, and in 1567 there was an iconoclasm . In the course of the acceptance of the Reformation Confession, the abbey church of the premonstratensian main parish church of the city and the west minster became superfluous. In 1575 the city council decided to close down the church and to lay out the large market that still exists today.
In 1943 and 1998 archaeological excavations were carried out at the former site of the church, which revealed a three-aisled Gothic building with a transept, long choir and ambulatory. During the 1998 excavation, the results from 1943 were confirmed and supplemented. In addition, the foundations of nave and crossing piers were excavated, the existence of which was initially only suspected on older plans.
literature
- Jan JB Kuipers (Ed.): De onderkant van de Markt. De Westmonsterkerk van Middelburg in archeologie en historie, Middelburg 2000.
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 54.8 " N , 3 ° 36 ′ 41.2" E