Petrus en Paulus

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

Neo-Gothic Roman Catholic church dating from 1879-1880 designed by E.J. Margry. The interior of the church was rebuilt in the nineteen-seventies. The nineteenth-century colour schemes, which had disappeared during the nineteen-seventies, have since been restored. NB The parish house built onto the west façade in 1994 is of minor importance for the protection.

Description

Monumental cruciform basilica with slightly projecting plinth, constructed in red brick in Flemish bond under saddle and lean-to roofs with slates in Maas bond. Three-aisled nave of eight bays and transept with side aisles. On the front façade (south) in front of the right side aisle a large bell tower with tall octagonal spire and to the left a smaller stair turret. The three-sided enclosed choir is flanked by the sacristy (west) and a slender five-sided stair tower. Above the crossing a slender tower with tall spire. Round-arched windows and rose windows, partly with stained glass and natural stone frames with weathering. Spires and pinnacles crowned with cast-iron cross flowers. The front façade (south) is dominated by the bell tower and the main entrance in the centre of the façade. The pointed gable of the slightly projecting entrance section is crowned by a natural stone pinnacle. The round-arched entrance portal consists of a heavy double wooden door with wrought-iron fittings and a rose window as fanlight in a natural stone archivolt with heavy beading. Niches with sculptures of Peter and Paul from 1882 are incorporated in the archivolt on either side of the door. Above the portal a sandstone cartouche with the initials I.H.S. Above the entrance projection two narrow spandrels under round arches, a frieze of decorative brickwork and above it a large rose window with stained glass. In the gable apex of the front façade narrow window openings and on the ridge a Latin cross executed in natural stone. The bell tower has a square floor plan and heavy, tapering buttresses at the corners. The horizontal articulation of the tower is accentuated from bottom to top by a moulded round-arched frieze, a herringbone-arched frieze and a dentil band. At ground level in the tower a wooden door under a fanlight consisting of two round-arched windows and a rose window under a moulded natural stone archivolt. In the second storey of the tower a composite window, above it two narrow round-arched windows and above that two sound holes with louvres under round arches between corner pilasters with round-arched spandrels. On all four sides clock faces in small pointed gables with natural stone coping and corner pinnacles. The stair turret to the left of the main entrance has a steep hipped roof and stepped narrow windows placed progressively in the façade. At ground level a simple door. The bays are articulated on the side façades (east and west) by buttresses. Under the eave line moulded zigzag bands. In each bay a double round-arched window and in the clerestory above rose windows, (partly) with stained glass. Above the slightly projected (former) confessionals in the end walls of the transept arms four-fold round-arched windows and above them large rose windows with stained glass. In the south façade of the eastern transept arm a double door with fanlight. On the west side the new parish house has been built at this location. The sacristy contains one storey and has a rectangular floor plan under a hipped roof. Interior Walls constructed in various colours of brick, partly plastered. The wooden barrel vault of the nave and the organ gallery are colourfully painted with floral motifs. The apse is likewise decoratively painted. The bays of the nave are articulated by an arcade of round arches on robust round columns laid in yellow brick on octagonal plinths, constructed in brown brick. The bases and capitals with foliage are executed in natural stone. The fantasy capitals of the slender natural stone half-columns above the columns support the wooden consoles of the barrel vault. On the blind triforium above the continuous moulded band, double blind round arches with paintings under three-lobed arches. In the clerestory rose windows, mostly filled with stained glass on which biblical figures are depicted. Crossing with large bundle piers and rib vault, as well as in the side aisles. In the apse three stained glass windows with figures of saints and in the centre representations relating to the sacrament by J.-B. Capronnier from Brussels (1881). Further stained glass windows from the workshop F. Nicolas and Son in the side aisles, clerestories and transept arms (c. 1881) depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. The stations of the cross painted on canvas and the mural paintings of the Holy Family, the apostles, Latin and Greek Church Fathers and founders and foundresses of monasteries in the niches of the blind triforium are very early works by the artist J. Dunselman from Amsterdam. Of the altars and the pulpit which Margry himself designed for the church, only the Mary altar remains. Sacristy with entirely original interior, richly executed wall panelling with built-in cupboards and tables.

Assessment

The Roman Catholic cruciform basilica of Peter and Paul is of general importance because of its cultural-historical value as representative of the boom in Roman Catholic church construction in the Neo-Gothic style following the restoration of the episcopal hierarchy in 1853. The church is of general importance because of its architectural-historical value as an example of Neo-Gothic inspired by early French Gothic, in which stylistic features from Romanesque architecture are still clearly evident; as a representative example from the church-building oeuvre of architect E.J. Margry; because of the reasonable degree of integrity in main form, detailing and material use of exterior and interior; because of the artistic-historical value of certain interior components. The church is of considerable urban planning importance because of its very distinctive setting at the lock within the village character of Leidschendam.