Kerk, Kerkstraat 2

English translation

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Description

Introduction.

In the linear development of the Kerkstraat in the centre of Vorstenbosch, at the junction of Heuvel, Kerkstraat and Kapelstraat stands the Roman Catholic Sint-Lambertuskerk, a west-facing, three-aisle pseudo-basilica church, furnished with an asymmetrical front with a high-rising bell tower, on a square base and with a low choir apse with ancillary spaces. The Lambertuskerk was built in 1933 according to a design by architect H.C. van de Leur. The architecture is in the manner of the Benedictine monk Dom Paul Bellot. The church building as a whole is closely related to his Sint-Jozefkerk at Noordhoek (municipality of Klundert). This was built in collaboration with H.C. van de Leur in 1921. The building is a very good example of a so-called people's church, with a very broad nave and narrow side aisles. The latter serve exclusively as passageways. As more intimate participation of the faithful was sought, all the congregation sits in the middle nave, unlike, for example, late nineteenth-century churches, from where, unhindered by pillars or other altars, it has an unobstructed view of the chancel altar.

In the church with its many parabolic and herringbone arches, its colourful tile decorations on walls and floor (in blue, white and ochre) elements of Art Deco and Expressionism can be recognised. In the architecture of the exterior of the church building, with low masonry, steep tile roofs and stepped gables, an attempt has been made to align with the village atmosphere of Vorstenbosch.

The church forms part of a group of interconnected buildings with the adjacent parsonage (number 4) built by the same architect in 1933 and the cloister from 1938 (number 6-9). The cloister has since been converted into dwellings and falls outside the national monument protection.

Description.

The church building has a rectangular ground plan (the axis parallel to the Kapelstraat) with gable towers projecting slightly from the building line, an eastern choir apse and ancillary spaces. The western façade is symmetrical in ground plan layout, but the unfinished southern tower has a division differing from the northern one and is covered by a blunt copper marquee roof. The northern tower has high-rising, shallow niches, crowned by a herringbone arch and pierced by high windows. At the level of the clock face applied on the western and eastern side, the tower projects on the southern and northern side. Above the bell storey with sound openings is a square tower spire, covered with a gabled roof with Romanesque tiles and crowned by an openwork wrought-iron cross. The façade is furnished with a centrally positioned herringbone arch portico with clamped doors with wrought-iron fittings and concrete arch band. The portico is flanked by four windows on each side. Although the façade is otherwise symmetrical in layout, the different towers do not give this impression. The masonry of the façade has, at the level of the lintel of the portico, a band of ornamental brickwork with pressed-brick lattice motif. The stepped gable, which is crowned by a natural stone cross, is furnished with a herringbone arch triplet. This is flanked by a herringbone arch-lancet set in a niche with a crowning hexagonal oculus. All windows are furnished with ashlar sills. Nave and side aisles are brought under one steep, high-rising gabled roof and are, like the tower, covered with Romanesque tiles. The masonry is built up to the roof spring and at the level of the window sills is furnished with ornamental brickwork in accordance with the façade. The gables are crowned by stepped-projecting rolls. The southern and northern nave gables each have three stepped gables, each containing a herringbone arch triplet furnished with stained glass. The western gable (at the side of the choir apse) is built high and furnished with chevron bonds.

The low choir extension consists of a choir bay with adjoining, three-sided closed apse. The roof pitches are also furnished here with Romanesque tiles. Simple coupled rectangular windows are installed in the masonry.

The interior of the church is dominated by the high and broad nave, consisting of three bays, with an extra bay at half the size of the others on the western and eastern side. The bays are separated by solid parabolic transverse arches. The middle nave is lit by the windows in the side aisles. These are opened to the nave through parabolic (and in the narrow bays stepped herringbone arch-shaped) buttress arches. In the most western bay are confessionals built into the outer walls on the northern and southern side. At the side of the eastern tower façade is a vestibule separated from the nave by clamped doors, which is flanked on both sides by two shallow chapels opening to the nave. Above the vestibule is the organ gallery with concrete bracket, on which the organ with main case, made in 1876 by Adrianus Kuijte from Oss; the works have 9 and 5 registers respectively.

The nave is covered by an open, high, steep timber roof truss structure with coffered ceiling, which above the side aisles is continued as a half-hipped roof.

The choir apse has brick, slightly wavy walls and a false vault with in each vault segment three deeply recessed windows with stained glass representations including the Holy Trinity. Through panel doors on the northern and southern side one can enter the sacristy (with original Lips safe), auxiliary sacristy and heating room. The material treatment is very rich. Against the outer walls is a broad band, applied over the entire length of the side aisles and at the level of the vault spring on the nave piers, with geometric motifs in white, blue and ochre glazed tiles. The piers, square in ground plan, have glazed corner stones. The transverse arches are decorated with ornamental brickwork of white, brown, yellow and blue brick and pressed brick. This is characteristic of the work of Dom Paul Bellot, whose influence is also evident from the other ornamental work.

The inventory includes, among other things, a statue of Saint Cunera (first half of the 16th century, upper part 18th century?), a statue of Saint Anthony Abbot (first half of the 16th century) and the relief panels in the choir (15th century). In the choir stands a baptismal font from circa 1933 with copper cover on a wrought-iron tap and in the font the inscription "Baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost". At the portal in the eastern wall, water basins are installed (1933). The two marble basins at the side portal in the northern wall and the triumphal cross, as well as various saints' statues, date from the old church of Vorstenbosch. Furthermore, there are two sets of seventeen wooden church benches dating from 1933. The painted Stations of the Cross in the side aisles are signed A.J. van de Wiel, Breda 1915.

Valuation.

The Lambertuskerk in Vorstenbosch is of general importance. The church has cultural-historical values as a particular expression of a spiritual and socio-economic development, whereby a small conglomeration of religious architecture also arose in smaller church villages along the main road. The church has architectural-historical significance because of the transitional phase it represents in the work of architect H.C. van de Leur, because of the detailing and the particular and varied use of materials. The church has ensemble values because of the functional, architectural and typological coherence with the parsonage (no. 4) and the former cloister (no. 6-9). The church is significant because of the exceptional integrity of exterior and interior.