Kerk, Markt 4

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Introduction

Brick, three-aisle neo-gothic cruciform basilica with front tower, built in 1891/1892 according to designs by J.Th.J. Cuypers by contractor C. Mulders from Raamsdonksveer. The church was constructed under "building pastor" A.G. Blankers and is the successor to the "church barn" from 1739 which stood on the same site, directly next to the present one. The interior, particularly the finishing and fitting, was greatly altered during a renovation and refurbishment in 1965 in the manner of the 's-Hertogenbosch School, whereby important details characteristic of the architect were lost and whereby the interior, including choir arrangements and altars, was partially dismantled. The items installed during this refurbishment are not eligible for protection. The organ falls outside the protection. The six pieces of stained glass windows in the west gable of the transept were installed around 1956 and likewise fall outside the protection.

Description

The building is entirely constructed of red machine-made brick in Flemish bond, furnished with bands in yellow stone. The facades are placed on a natural stone plinth and are finished by a simple wooden gutter moulding on an overhanging decorative brickwork band.

The brickwork is furnished with chain anchors. The seven windows in the priest's choir, the fanlight of the main entrance and the window at the organ niche in the east gable are executed in sandstone; the remaining windows in brick. The side aisles are divided by buttresses into bays with per bay one pointed arch stained glass window, above which, in the rising facade work of the central nave, always a series of three pointed arch windows. The window sills and covering plates on the buttresses are executed in stepped form. The gable tops of the transept possess in the upper part a group of three pointed arch windows above which a small window group for lighting the chapel space. The five-sided choir possesses in each facade element a rich stained glass window. On the north side, bordering the choir, there is a chapel with rich stained glass windows. In the central tower structure against the east gable there is a pointed arch entrance arrangement with a tracried stained glass fanlight present. Above that are respectively a gable band with tiled mosaic, a three-light window under a pointed arch at the height of the organ niche and a series of three pointed arch windows with stained glass installed. At the height of the belfry there are on all sides of the tower series of three pointed arch shaped sound holes. On both sides of the tower there are three-light windows, at the location of the baptismal chapel respectively the right chapel in the extension of the side aisles.

In the corner against the choir, on Zusterstraat, there is the sacristy, which consists of a single-storey, three bays wide outbuilding under its own gabled roof. The rectangular windows are executed as three-light. The right bay contains a renewed entrance. In 1897 an existing building against the northern gable, possibly a remnant of the old church, was converted into a storage shed. In 1925 this flat-roofed building was enlarged and made accessible via a gate and external space from the front courtyard, along the outside.

Nave and transept are furnished with gabled roofs covered with slate. The crossing is crowned by an openwork roof turret with a slate-covered tower spire. The gabled roofs possess small dormer windows covered with slate for lighting the chapel space. The main tower possesses an octagonal, slate-covered spire, crowned by a cross and weathercock. At the base of the spire there are clock faces in dormer-like elements. The original clock faces from 1892 have been replaced over time.

Following the interior modifications of the nineteen-sixties, particularly the central nave has acquired a sobered appearance in which the uniform grey paintwork on the walls predominates. Other finishes, including brickwork and columns in fair-faced brickwork of red machine-made "Stekene Steen" with yellow-black bands, the side aisle vaults and the main portal are still original. The vault ceilings in the side aisles are constructed in the form of cross-rib vaults, the remaining vaults in nave, transept and priest's choir are executed in concrete (reinforced concrete) with ribs by the firm Picha & Stevens in Sas van Gent. Nave and transept possess a barrel vault with angled ridge, the priest's choir a cross and a fan vault and the crossing a star vault. The sacristy is furnished with a concrete barrel vault.

The vault painting in the priest's choir with gold-green decoration on the ribs is still original.

Most of the stained glass windows are executed soberly with tracery in blue-beige-yellow. Of particular value are the three figurative stained glass windows in the priest's choir, manufactured in the Roermond atelier of F. Nicolas & Son, possibly according to designs by Cuypers. The three-part figurative stained glass window from 1896 in the Sacred Heart chapel is presumably also from this atelier. In the years 1929-1931 the remaining figurative stained glass windows, manufactured in the atelier of Hendrik Coppejans in Ghent, were installed in the chapel and in the priest's choir. The aisles in the church are executed in natural stone, possibly still originating from the old church.

Valuation

Church of general importance due to cultural-historical value and architectural-historical values as a very rare example of concrete vault construction in the building period. The whole is of ensemble value for the appearance of the city.