St. Michael's Church

Saint Michael's Church
Belgium, Ghent
Rating 9.0
10 Based on 1 reviews
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GPS: 51.0536, 3.7196

St. Michael's Church

Saint Michael's Church
Belgium, Ghent
St. Michael's Church (Dutch Sint-Michielskerk) is a Roman Catholic church built in the late Gothic style. Known for its rich interior decoration.
Story
Documents from 1105 indicate the existence of a chapel on this site dedicated to St. Michael, which was subordinate to another parish. The building was twice destroyed by fire at the beginning of the 12th century and rebuilt. Since 1147 it has been recognized as an independent parish church.
Construction of the present late Gothic church probably began in 1440 and took place in two stages separated by a long interval. In the first stage, in the 15th and 16th centuries, the western part of the building was built, including the tower, three-aisled nave and transept. This construction was completed in 1528. Construction of the west tower continued and by 1566 two levels of the tower were completed. Then, due to religious conflicts, not only construction stopped, but also looting and destruction began.
Part of the church was destroyed in 1578 by Calvinists, and in 1579 the old choir was demolished.
Reconstruction of the church began only in 1623. The early Gothic choir was replaced by a choir in the Brabant Gothic style. Local architect Lieven Cruyle made designs for the unfinished west tower in 1662. It was not until 1828 that a flat roof was erected over the unfinished tower.
The church has a rich neo-Gothic interior, including an altar and pulpit in this style. There are 18th-century statues here, including Laurent Delvaux's Saint Livinius, a wooden Saint Sebastian by J. Francis Allart, eight marble statues of saints, and a copy of Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges by Rombau Pauwels.
The church contains many Baroque paintings, including Christ Dying on the Cross by Anthony van Dyck, The Raising of Lazarus by Otto Venius and paintings by Gaspard de Crayer, Philippe de Champaigne, Karel van Mander, Jan Beekhorst, Anton van den Heuvel, Theodore van Tulden and others.
There are confessionals in a variety of styles, including an early 17th-century Baroque confessional by François Kruyt with statues by Michiel van der Voort the Elder.

REVIEWS
All reviews (1)
Traveled 4 weeks ago
Rating 9
The first chapel in honor of St. Michael was erected on this site in the 12th century. It burned down twice and was restored twice, but by the 15th century the church had fallen into disrepair and could not accommodate everyone. Therefore, in 1440 they began to build a new church in the Gothic style. In the 16th century, work was stopped and resumed after 1623, and construction was completed in 1828. This is such a long construction project. Therefore, the church turned out to be “pieces of different styles.
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