Saint Peter's Church of Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, is situated on the city's Grote Markt (main market square

Market square

The market square is a feature of many European and colonial towns. It is an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on one particular day of the week known as market day....

), right across the ornate Town Hall

Leuven Town Hall

The Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium, is a landmark building on that city's Grote Markt square, across from the monumental St. Peter's Church...

. Built mainly in the 15th century in Brabantine Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style, the church has a cruciform floor plan and a low bell tower

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 that has never been completed.

History

The first church on the site, made of wood and presumably founded in 986, burned down in 1176. It was replaced by a Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 church, made of stone, featuring a West End flanked by two round towers like at Our Lady's Basilica

Basilica of Our Lady (Maastricht)

The Roman catholic Basilica of Our Lady is a Romanesque basilica in Maastricht, The Netherlands, dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. The church is often referred to as the Star of the Sea, after the church's main devotion, Our Lady, Star of the Sea...

 in Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

. Of the Romanesque building only part of the crypt

Crypt

In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....

 remains, underneath the chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 of the actual church.

Construction of the present Gothic edifice, significantly larger than its predecessor, was begun approximately in 1425, and was continued for more than half a century in a remarkably uniform style, replacing the older church progressively from east (chancel) to west. Its construction period overlapped with that of the Town Hall across the Markt, and in the earlier decades of construction shared the same succession of architects as its civic neighbor: Sulpitius van Vorst to start with, followed by Jan II Keldermans

Keldermans family

Keldermans is a family of Flemish artists, originating from the city of Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant. The members of the family were mostly architects working in the Brabantine Gothic style...

 and later on Matheus de Layens

Matheus de Layens

Matheus de Layens was a Brabantine architect from the 15th century.He was employed in Leuven from 1433, first under the architect Sulpitius van Vorst , and afterwards under Jan Keldermans II, whom he succeeded in 1445 as master mason...

. In 1497 the building was practically complete, although modifications, especially at the West End, continued.

Towers

In 1458, a fire struck the old Romanesque towers that still flanked the West End of the uncompleted building. The first arrangements for a new tower complex followed quickly, but were never realized. Then, in 1505, Joost Matsys (brother of painter Quentin Matsys

Quentin Matsys

Quentin Matsys was a painter in the Flemish tradition and a founder of the Antwerp school. He was born at Leuven, where legend states he was trained as an ironsmith before becoming a painter...

) forged an ambitious plan to erect three colossal towers of freestone surmounted by openwork spires, which would have had a grand effect, as the central spire would rise up to about 170 m, making it the world's tallest structure at the time. Insufficient ground stability and funds proved this plan impracticable, as the central tower reached less than a third of its intended height before the project was abandoned in 1541. After the height was further reduced by partial collapses from 1570 to 1604, the main tower now rises barely above the church roof; at its sides are mere stubs. The architect had, however, made a maquette

Maquette

A maquette is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished architectural work or a sculpture...

 of the original design, which is preserved in the southern transept.

Despite their incomplete status, the towers are mentioned on the UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 World Heritage List, as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France

Belfries of Belgium and France

The Belfries of Belgium and France is a group of 56 historical buildings designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, in recognition of an architectural manifestation of emerging civic independence in historic Flanders and neighbouring regions from feudal and religious influences, leading to a...

.

War and after war

The church suffered severe damage in both World Wars

World war

A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....

. In 1914 a fire caused the collapse of the roof and in 1944 a bomb destroyed part of the northern side.

The reconstructed roof is surmounted at the crossing

Crossing (architecture)

A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...

 by a flèche

Flèche

A flèche is used in French architecture to refer to a spire and in English to refer to a lead-covered timber spire, or spirelet. These are placed on the ridges of church or cathedral roofs and are usually relatively small...

, which, unlike the 18th-century cupola that preceded it, blends stylistically with the rest of the church.

A very late (1998) addition is the jacquemart, or golden automaton, which periodically rings a bell near the clock on the gable of the southern transept, above the main southern entrance door.

Artworks and relics

Despite the devastation during the World Wars, the church remains rich in works of art. The chancel and ambulatory

Ambulatory

The ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....

 were turned into a museum in 1998, where visitors can view a collection of sculptures, paintings and metalwork.

Outstanding are two paintings by the Flemish Primitive Dirk Bouts

Dirk Bouts

Dieric Bouts was an Early Netherlandish painter. According to Karel van Mander in his Het Schilderboeck of 1604, Bouts was born in Haarlem and was mainly active in Leuven , where he was city painter from 1468...

, the Last Supper (1464-1468) and the Martyrdom of St Erasmus (1465). The street leading towards the West End of the church is named after the artist. The Nazis seized The Last Supper in 1942. Panels from the painting had been sold legitimately to German museums in the 1800s, and Germany was forced to return all the panels as part of the required reparations of the Versailles Treaty after World War I.

An elaborate stone tabernacle

Church tabernacle

A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....

 (1450), in the form of a hexagonal tower, soars amidst a bunch of crocketed

Crocket

A crocket is a hook-shaped decorative element common in Gothic architecture. It is in the form of a stylised carving of curled leaves, buds or flowers which is used at regular intervals to decorate the sloping edges of spires, finials, pinnacles, and wimpergs....

 pinnacles to a height of 12.5 meters. A creation of the architect de Layens (1450), it is an example of what is called in Dutch a sacramentstoren, or in German a Sakramentshaus, on which artists lavished more pains than on almost any other artwork.

In side chapels are the tombs of Duke Henry I of Brabant

Henry I, Duke of Brabant

Henry I of Brabant , named "The Courageous" Duke of Brabant and Duke of Lower Lotharingia until his death.-Biography:...

 (d. 1235), his wife Matilda

Mathilde of Flanders

Matilde of Flanders was the youngest daughter of Marie I, Countess of Boulogne and her husband Matthew, Count of Boulogne. Matilde was Duchess of Brabant, by her marriage to Henry I, Duke of Brabant.- Family :...

 (d. 1211) and their daughter Marie (d. 1260). Godfrey II of Leuven

Godfrey II of Leuven

Godfrey II was the count of Leuven, landgrave of Brabant by inheritance from 23 January 1139. He was the son of Godfrey I and Ida of Chiny...

 is also buried in the church.

A large and elaborate oak pulpit, which is transferred from the abbey church of Ninove

Ninove

Ninove is a city and municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek. It is situated on the river Dender...

, is carved with a life-size representation of Norbert of Xanten

Norbert of Xanten

Saint Norbert of Xanten was a Christian saint and founder of the Norbertine or Premonstratensian order of canons regular.- Life and work :...

 falling from a horse.

One of the oldest objects in the art collection is a 12th-century wooden head, being the only remainder of a crucifix

Crucifix

A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....

 burnt in World War I.

There is also Nicolaas de Bruyne's 1442 sculpture of the Madonna and Child enthroned on the seat of wisdom

Seat of Wisdom

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the epithet "the Seat of Wisdom" or "Throne of Wisdom" is identified with one of many devotional titles for the Mother of God...

 (Sedes Sapientiae). The theme is still used today as the emblem of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...

.

External links

• Photo gallery at Belgiumview.com
• Services at Kerknet.be