Kerk, Dorpsweg 149

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

Mennonite CHURCH (vermaning), built in 1867 in eclectical style, designed by the city architect of Medemblik, A.T. van Wijngaarden. The small bell tower and the stucco ceiling in the building were strongly restored in the early eighties of the twentieth century. The vermaning stands relatively free, set back slightly from the building line on the main street of Twisk (within the protected village townscape).

Description

The single-aisle brick church (laid in cross bond), covered by a gabled roof with blue-glazed Dutch tiles, faces the road with its short side containing the portal (south). The building has a cemented plinth all around. The front facade (south) is symmetrical in layout: centrally the entrance with steps (double panelled door) and with three- and four-pass filled fanlight, flanked by two memorial tablets on which the building date of the church is noted among other things. Above these framed stone features are two round-arched windows, which have a middle mullion, circularly coupled round arch and lozenge-shaped glazing bars, and which rest on hardstone drip mouldings. A blind window, slightly smaller than the two flanking it, sits above the entrance. The door and windows are accentuated above by moulded arch bands on small consoles, which follow the frame forms. On the corners stand polychrome buttresses with pyramidal capping. A broad cornice terminates the facade. The identical side facades (east and west) each have four high-placed windows as also found on the front facade, likewise with eyebrows above them. An overhanging roof gutter is contained between the corner buttresses at front and rear facade, the latter of which is not coloured but plastered in grey. The rear facade (north) ends straight and has a small rose window at the top. Abutting it is the five-sided lower extension, three sides of which contain a window. In the straight side on the east is a door to the vestry. The roof with sloping hipped roof tiles has the same tiles as the rest of the church. A chimney projects through the ridge of this extension, which is square-built in brick and ends in a round pipe. The gabled roof of the church nave is contained between the front and rear facades. At the southern end, a wooden bell tower stands on the ridge, in which sounding openings in round arches are provided, narrow pilaster forms reinforce the corners. The short spire above the cornice curves sharply inward and ends in a needle with weather vane. The interior is accessible via a small portal under the organ gallery on both sides leading to small rooms which in turn lead to the church space. In the southwest corner is the staircase to the balcony. The floor consists of broad wooden sections. The section around the pulpit is raised. There are benches along the length axis of the church with gangways running along the walls. Further towards the pulpit are benches with backrests placed transversely to the length direction against the walls, of which the two double ones are most richly executed with a canopy on supports. In front of the central block of benches are several rows of chairs. Against the short focal wall is placed a hexagonal pulpit which has a double staircase (one of which merely provides access to the basin). In detailing and material use, the pulpit, benches, chairs and doors with their decorated trim form a unified whole. The walls, of which the lower zone has been given a texture, are whitewashed. On the south wall opposite the pulpit is the organ balcony with single-manual organ by L. van Dam and sons in Leeuwarden, made in 1879. This Van Dam organ, provided with an ornate case, is incorporated into the balustrade. The stucco ceiling is divided into square fields. On the corners of the fields are flower forms and two open-work rosettes are placed in the middle. Via doors on either side of the pulpit lead narrow corridors, between which the heating space lies, to the vestry room in the lower extension. Wooden sections also lie here on the floor. The room receives light from three large windows.

Valuation

The Mennonite church (vermaning) is of general importance due to its architectural and cultural-historical value as a rarely preserved authentic example of vermaningen from the second half of the nineteenth century by virtue of the retained principal form and detailing and the original interior; the church also has ensemble value as a defining element in the protected village townscape of Twisk.