Onze Lieve Vrouwe van Lourdes

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

The CHAPEL dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, as part of the complex 'Sint Willibrordus', was built simultaneously (1938-1940) with the central section of the main building with which it forms one architectural whole. Not only the exterior, but also the interior of the chapel remains virtually entirely in its original state. The high and side altars and church benches have been preserved, as well as the stained-glass windows installed in the 1950s by the Haarlem glazier K. Trautwein. The bench arrangement was subsequently shortened somewhat to make room for a modern, centrally located high altar.

Description

A round domed church with an elaborately worked choir section connected to the main building, with a 24-sided tambour and a high corresponding pyramidal roof clad with copper and crowned by a hemisphere with cross. The main entrance is housed in a shallow rectangular extension on the east side with a gabled roof of smoked improved Dutch tiles. The external masonry of the chapel is provided with a brick plinth and, like the main building, executed in yellow-toned machine-made bricks in Flemish bond format with slightly receding joints. The high round structure is regularly articulated by six pairs of lesenes between which, except on the side of the choir and entrance section, four series of seven (2-3-2) oblong round-arched windows are located. The masonry is finished with a 24-sided concrete gutter on corresponding corbels which continues along the choir roof. The transition from the round structure to the tambour is formed by a continuous 24-sided copper lean-to roof. The relatively low 24-sided tambour is articulated in the same manner by lesenes as the round structure and is provided with a round window (total six) halfway between each pair of lesenes. The masonry of the tambour is also finished with a 24-sided concrete gutter on corbels.

In the front facade (E) of the extended main entrance, executed as a gable and crowned by a brick belfry, a round-arched portal is set out with quarter-round corner columns of light grey granite, stepped brick jambs and corresponding archivolts surrounded by tufa stone reliefs with symbols drawn from the Litany of Mary. The double oak portal door, reached via a wide brick staircase, is diagonally boarded around two diamond-shaped windowpanes placed at eye level. The semicircular fanlight above the door is divided into three parts by two carved mullions in the form of angels holding flower garlands. Above the portal are three round-arched windows, the central one being higher. On either side of the portal is a pair of smaller similar windows. Both side facades of the extension have three round-arched windows and are finished with a concrete gutter on corresponding corbels. In the right side facade (N) these three windows are placed higher and below on the right is a small round window. All windows of the extension are provided with non-figurative stained glass in pastel colours. The choir section against the west side of the chapel is composed of a high choir with a semicircular apse, with lower structures on either side of two storeys with flat roof forming the connection to the diverging side wings of the courtyard: on the south side the former brothers' chapel (now day chapel) and on the north side the former novices' chapel and the sacristy. Both chapels are provided with round-arched windows: three at the top of the west facade of the novices' chapel and in the brothers' chapel seven in the east facade and four pairs in the west facade. The choir has three round-arched windows at the top of both side facades and a shallow roof, also clad with copper, of gabled form. In the semicircular apse against the closing wall of the choir, crowned by a natural stone cross, there are four round windows. Directly above these round windows runs a seven-sided round-arched frieze on diamond-shaped natural stone corbels above which the masonry is also constructed in seven-sided form. The gutter resting on concrete corbels above and the apse roof also have a seven-sided form. On the courtyard side a continuous open gallery with brick pillars and corresponding segmental arches with natural stone springers runs around the apse and along both chapels. The passage above the flat concrete ceiling of the gallery is provided with small round windows and a lean-to roof clad with smoked Romanesque tiles, which continues above the two rectangular extensions in the northeast and southeast corner of the courtyard. In the side wall of these extensions is a door which via a brick staircase gives access to the courtyard. In the interior of the chapel stand in a wide circle six pairs of twelve metre high concrete columns (symbolising the twelve apostles) which are provided with block-shaped capitals with bevelled edges at the ends at the bottom, upon which rests a 24-sided concrete ring which carries the domed vault. This 24-part scale vault installed at the level of the tambour has a diameter of 20 metres and is executed in fair-faced masonry of alternating courses of cloister bricks and hand-formed bricks in Flemish bond format (in connection with acoustics). At the location of the six round windows of the tambour, lunettes are laid. The aforementioned concrete ring is profiled as a cornice and is connected by concrete radial beams on which a continuous concrete ceiling plate rests to a second concrete ring on top of the outer walls. The concrete building elements are finished with a rough plaster layer. The walls are executed on the inside in fair-faced masonry of hand-formed yellow-toned cloister bricks (format approx. 30 x 11 cm) in Flemish bond with rough joints, and are articulated at regular intervals by lesenes. At the height of the transverse axis, on both left and right, there is a low risalit wedged between two lesenes containing two oak round-arched doors which give access to the adjacent, extended confessional spaces. Between these doors, which are provided with a round-arched window in stained glass, sculpture is placed: on the left (S) Mary Magdalene, on the right (N) John the Baptist (both provided examples of penitence). All floors in the chapel are tiled with Solnhofen slate. The church space opens with a round arch into the choir, whose high floor is accessible via a fan-shaped staircase between two semicircular extensions. These are provided with a bronze balustrade in which Christian symbols are incorporated (including a fountain, church, ship, bible, mitre). On the wooden handrail of the left balustrade stands a bronze eagle, on that of the right a dove. Below on the left a cornerstone is set in the round arch dated 10 September 1938. On the broad lower step of the convex staircase stands on the left and right of the centre a likewise convex bronze balustrade which functions as a communion rail and in which symbols for the Eucharist are incorporated. The lowest step of the staircase continues indenting and projecting along the wall past the four side altars in the first and third bays on either side of the choir. The two outer side altars are placed against a round-arched spandrel in which a partly painted and glazed terracotta relief by the sculptor J. Maris: on the left Joseph and on the right Willibrordus. The two side altars directly on either side of the choir are placed in a semicircular apse accessible via three convex steps. A base is installed in the back wall on which on the left is a Mary statue by P. Biesiot and on the right a Sacred Heart statue (both of natural stone). All staircases in the chapel have steps of cream-coloured polished limestone with contrasting risers of black marble. The side altars are executed in light-brown travertine oniciato, the high altar in dark-grey travertine antico. The latter altar bears a red-copper tabernacle and is placed on a rectangular platform of three steps in front of the semicircular choir apse. The latter has a hemispherical vault with four round windows with stained glass symbols for the Eucharist. The large wooden crucifix behind the high altar was also made by P. Biesiot. The Solnhofen tiles in the choir are polished by contrast. The choir has a concrete coffered ceiling consisting of nine coffers. The cross beams rest on a natural stone block below which a short brick wall pillar rests on a natural stone console. The three round-arched windows at the top of both side walls of the choir show on the left (S) Paul, Christ and John, and on the right (N) Lot, Melchisedek and Abraham. Below this the choir opens into both side chapels by means of two round arches resting on a grey granite pillar. The arches are closed with glazed partitions which can be partially slid open so that if necessary the mass in the chapel could be attended from the brothers' and novices' chapel. This was particularly the case for sick brothers: the sick ward was adjacent to the balcony against the west wall of the brothers' chapel. The balcony against the east wall of the novices' chapel was intended for visitors. Both balconies have a heavy openwork balustrade of pine wood with wood carvings by P. Biesiot. The round-arched windows in the side chapels are also provided with stained glass. The three windows in the novices' chapel show the founder of the order S.M. Glorieux, Willibrordus and Adelbertus. In the windows of the north wall of the brothers' chapel the apparition of Mary to Bernadette is central. The seven windows in the south wall show from left to right the four evangelists, Liduina, Christ and Barbara. The wooden ceiling of the brothers' chapel is supported by collar ties resting on two collar beams below which consoles as in the choir; the wooden ceiling of the shallow novices' chapel rests on a single beam layer. The brothers' chapel still has the original bench arrangement with simple oak benches. The floors and walls of the brothers' and novices' chapels are executed as in the chapel. The aforementioned doors in the chapel are mostly arched, horizontally boarded oak doors. The stained-glass windows in the chapel are based on an extensive iconographic programme. Central in each of the four groups of seven stained-glass windows is Mary to whom the chapel is dedicated. In the walls below are stations of the cross in the form of a recumbent spandrel with fresco. The stained-glass round windows of the tambour represent the six days of creation. The simple oak church benches have flat sides in which a cross motif is carved. Above the main entrance, against the east wall, an oak balcony is placed. This balcony, apparently dating from 1949, is supported by four octagonal posts and has an indenting and projecting form (concave-convex-concave) and a corresponding wooden railing. The balcony floor consists of oak parquet in herringbone pattern. The broad main portal is flanked by side portals, of which the southern one is provided with two toilet rooms from the construction period and the northern one with a spiral staircase leading to the organ room, below which is a storage space. The portals have arched oak doors, walls and floors as in the chapel.

Valuation

The chapel is of general interest due to its cultural and architectural historical value as a carefully designed and well-preserved historic-functional main component of the 'Sint Willibrordus' complex. The chapel has situational value as the heart of this complex and because of its striking urban planning position on the Kennemerstraatweg.

Cultural-historical description

On the balcony stands the three-manual pipe organ manufactured in 1949 by the firm Bern. Pels and Zoon in Alkmaar, of which the case is executed in oak and provided with panel doors. The organ has no fewer than 36 stops and has electro-pneumatic slider chests. The majority of the pipework is housed in the space above the main portal in the extension, which is vaulted by a wooden barrel vault.