Sint Martinus

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

PARISH CHURCH R.K. Sint Martinus, with a SACRISTY connected by a linking section. The hall church executed in neogothic style was built in 1896 by architect Alfred Tepe under building pastor Th. Holtslag. The church, provided with a west tower, possesses in the east an extended choir section to which the sacristy, placed at right angles, is attached to the south.

The church is situated to the north of the village centre and is separated from it by a church square on which the Dutch Reformed church is also located. With the parsonage of the Dutch Reformed community located on the east side of this square, the St. Martinus church forms a fine ensemble of buildings within a religious setting.

Description

The hall church possesses an almost rectangular ground plan which is extended on the south-east side with a rectangular annex (sacristy) placed transversely in ground plan. The church, oriented towards the east, is entirely constructed of brick (English bond). The three-aisled hall church with the slightly lower side aisles is covered externally by a single substantial gabled roof (with slate in Maas pattern covering). The ridge is parallel to the Pastoor Wijfkerstraat and runs to the east end with a 3/8 choir closure. Because the side aisles only extend eastward to the choir, the thus narrower choir section possesses a sloping roof plane than the nave. The eastern termination of the five window bays of the side aisles are ended by attached half-hipped rooflets, as is the western termination of the northern side aisle which reaches halfway up the tower. The three mentioned half-hipped rooflets are all crowned by a metal cross finial. In the northern and southern roof sections of the church there are per side two attached dormers provided with shutters; in the choir section one on each side. The dormers are equipped with a slate-covered bulbous roof, preceded at the front by a substantially overhanging tower-like roof with a weathervane. The rubbed brick that protrudes relative to the facades is closed off by a chamfered roll moulding. The drip mouldings and window traceries are executed in the same quality brick as the rubbed brick. A black-tarred cemented low plinth continues over all facades, except on the south side, over the rubbed brick. Directly on the facades the roof connects with brick gutters. The roof edges are bevelled with roof slate. A drip moulding on which the windows rest is interrupted by buttresses with offsets. The tower, square in ground plan, adjoins directly the westernmost bay of the central nave and is flanked on the north side by an almost circular stair tower which adjoins the northern side aisle. The tower comprises three unequal divisions in height. The lowest division contains the entrance section and an adjoining pointed-arch window. In the upper two divisions, small windows are placed in fields divided by pilasters, and entirely above them louvres. The tapered octagonal tower spire is, like the roof of the nave, covered with slate and is crowned by a cross with weathervane. Above the taper, on the four sides, parallel to the four sides of the tower, a clock face is placed. On the corners of the tower, on each side two buttresses with offsets are placed which in the third division continue as diagonal columns to below the roof edge.

The tower (WEST FACADE) possesses at its front an elevated entrance section which is reached via two stone stairs running parallel to the facade with modern wrought-iron railings opening onto a platform. The almost identical entrance on the south side of the tower is accessible beside a stair also via a gently sloped plane for wheelchair users. The double bolted church doors are supported by a sandstone lintel above which is a tympanum in which a cross form is recessed in the field. The door frame rests on a sandstone threshold. The chamfered edges of the door frame run uninterruptedly into the arch stones of the tympanum. The pointed-arch window present above is subdivided by two brick muntins into three lancet windows. The longer central lancet window reaches into the heart of a window tracery consisting of five lobes which forms the filling of the window head. Rising from a console above the window head, a pilaster intersects the second and third divisions of the tower. In the second division, on either side of this, two pointed-arch blind recesses are placed in which a small window is set. The upper zone consists of two pointed-arch openings with louvres. The south side of the tower is identical to the west facade. The east side of the tower is occupied by the high roof of the adjoining central nave reaching to the louvres. The stair tower situated on the north side of the tower similarly partly obscures the view of this facade. The stair tower is circular in form and possesses four light slits which are placed at unequal heights from each other but between the two drip mouldings which continue from the tower over the stair tower. Below the conical roof two light slits appear in the third low division.

The north or LEFT SIDE FACADE possesses six window bays of which the left and right window openings contain, instead of three, two lancet frames with fish-bladder traceries identical in the window head. The window sills all rest on the drip moulding which, as already mentioned, is interrupted by buttresses. Against the second bay from left viewing from the choir, below the window rests a shallow flat-roofed outbuilding where in the wall surface two light slits appear and above it is finished by a dentil course. The western termination of the side aisle is determined by two corner-placed wall sections (with a buttress at the point of intersection), with due to the adjoining stair tower only in the left wall section a pointed-arch window with two lancet frames of the earlier described type. The eastern termination of the north side aisle is identical but possesses a window in each of the two wall sections.

The REAR FACADE (east side) is formed by, as earlier described, a 3/8 choir closure preceded by a choir bay. The indicated wall sections all contain a pointed-arch window with two lancet frames of the earlier described type.

The RIGHT SIDE FACADE (south side) is identical to the north side and possesses, mirrored on the central axis of the church in the second bay from right, a low outbuilding as described there. The west side of the side aisle is, in contrast to the other terminations of the side aisles, closed straight. A pointed-arch window with two lancet frames is incorporated in the wall section. In the wall section above it and which lies below the gabled roof of the side aisle a round window is placed.

The SACRISTY, covered by a half-hipped roof with suppressed Mulde tiles, is situated to the south of the choir and is connected to the choir by a short, low and flat-roofed linking section. The east facade possesses two small pointed-arch windows with leaded glass placed on a shared sill. Below them two small light openings with a sill are arranged. In the dark cemented plinth below the two windows is a pointed door consisting of bead-moulded parts with a hatch behind an iron grille, providing access to the cellar. The door is supported by two half-brick arches. The left section is occupied by a clamp wall adjoining the rubbed brick where originally a door stood. The south side is, except for a closed door on the right, entirely closed. The west side of the sacristy contains two pointed-arch windows identical to those on the east facade. On the left the linking section is accessible via three steps with a bolted pointed door. The door is supported by a single-brick arch.

The INTERIOR is characterized by a spatial experience created by the type of hall church. The cream-coloured plasterwork above a brown plinth with the brick-red rendering of the ribs, which after war damage was reapplied, and the uncoloured panes in the windows make a positive contribution to the brightness of the space. The ribs of the cross vaults rest on the capitals of the high rising round pillars which divide the church space into three aisles. The keystones of the vaults are now formed by modern light spots. Alternately the round pillars are provided with images of saints. The walls are adorned with paintings of the Stations of the Cross (by H.J.P. Hanau 1830-1900, which after restoration in 1950 were replaced in their original position) above the continuous brown-painted moulding which also connects the windows. The northern and southern wall sections of the penultimate eastern bay of the side aisles possess below the windows a confessional which, as mentioned, is projected outward. The side aisles are closed on the east side by a Mary and Joseph chapel. The windows to the east of the crossing are all provided with stained-glass windows. The oldest windows are the three located in the apse and from the hand of Frans Nicolas (installed 1902). In the choir is the original Sacrament altar from the workshop of G. Brom (1901). Below the triumphal arch in the choir hangs a large neogothic wooden crucifix.

The church pews possess at the end panels a gothic pointed arch with the pew number in the head, at the bottom a so-called letter panel is worked out. The church doors and balustrade of the organ gallery in the west are provided with the same motif. The ORGAN is a two-manual pneumatic organ with a free-standing console with pipework partly from the former organ of M. Kersting from Munster (Germany), made in 1856. Organ case and other parts date from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

The tile floor possesses a rich pattern. The tiles are provided with a relief representation and are interspersed with red tiles laid in diamond form. Where the diamonds overlap, the resulting squares are executed in grey. The floor is bevelled off by a scroll moulding. In several places in the church biblical representations, with or without text in the floor decoration, can be found. The floor in the choir is modernized: raised and extended.

In the sacristy, a cabinet wall is placed against the south wall behind which two doors were located which can still be seen in the exterior. The one in the east wall adjoined the ancient manor house (later used as a parsonage) "De Oevelgunne" situated there, which after the Second World War was demolished. The sacristy possesses a beam ceiling and is underkellered with trough vaults.

Valuation

HALL CHURCH Sint Martinus with SACRISTY, built by A. Tepe in 1896 in neogothic style.

- Of architectural-historical value as a well and faithfully preserved example in interior and exterior of a late 19th-century neogothic church, in which influences of Westphalian and Lower Rhine gothic are visible. The St. Martinus is of architectural-historical importance as part of the oeuvre of architect Alfred Tepe, one of the most important and productive architects building in the style of neogothicism. Within neogothicism he was the foremost representative of the Utrecht school. The St. Martinus forms part of the late work of Tepe and represents a sober variant on his well-known churches in IJsselstein (1885-1887) and Raalte (1891-1892). Furthermore the church shows similarity with the O.L. Vrouw Ten Hemel Opneming in Utrecht, built by Tepe in 1893-1894. The church is of particular value due to the high-quality aesthetic qualities in interior and exterior, such as harmonious proportions, great spatiality and special detailing.

- Of urban planning value due to its location on the north side of the Church Square. Moreover, through its dimensions and silhouette it forms a characteristic focal point in the centre of Gendringen opposite the church of the Dutch Reformed Community located on the opposite side of the Church Square.

- Of cultural-historical value as a special expression of a spiritual development namely the emancipation process of Roman Catholics.

Cultural-historical description

ALFRED TEPE was born in Amsterdam in 1840. He studied at the Bau-Akademie in Berlin from 1861-1864, where the neoclassicism of K.F. Schinkel and his pupils prevailed. He studied mathematics in Münster and worked from 1865-1867 with Vincent Statz in Cologne. Between 1867 and 1872 he made study trips from Amsterdam. From 1872-1884 he lived in Utrecht, where he held an important position in the St.Bernulphusgilde. He worked closely with F.W. Mengelberg, the sculptor of the Guild. Tepe's oeuvre was created in the period 1873-1905. During this period he built seventy churches in the Netherlands and Germany, including in Gendringen the St. Martinus, executed in brick and inspired by the late Lower Rhenish and Westphalian gothic. He died in 1920 in Düsseldorf. Tepe belonged to the so-called Utrecht school, which sought connection with the Lower Rhenish gothic of the 15th and 16th centuries, in which the pressed basilical structure and the hall church predominate. This in contrast to Cuypers and Alberdingk Thijm, the "Amsterdam school", which took the early and 13th-century gothic as their example.