Cathedral of St. Bavo (Sint Baafskathedraal) description and photos - Belgium: Ghent (Topic)

St. Bavo Cathedral (Sint Baafskathedraal) description and photos - Belgium: Ghent. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Sint Baafskathedraal.

Photo and description

The Cathedral of St. Bavo with an exorbitantly high Gothic bell tower is very popular among tourists, because it is here, to the left of the entrance, in one of the chapels the famous Ghent altar is kept, consisting of 20 paintings, written by brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck. In addition to the Ghent Altarpiece, the cathedral has 21 more altarpieces.

St. Bavo's Cathedral can be called a treasury, where sacred works of art are collected. The oldest of them date back to the 8th century, the newest - from the 90s of the 20th century. Most noteworthy is the painting by Rubens, which depicts the patron saint of this temple. The Rococo pulpit was created in 1745 by Lauren Delvaux.

The building of the temple, in which Emperor Charles V will be baptized in the future, built on the site of the old chapel of John the Baptist, consecrated in the first half of the 10th century. There was no trace of it. In the middle of the 12th century, a cross-shaped Romanesque church dedicated to the same saint appeared here. Remains of this structure - the walls richly decorated with frescoes - can be seen in the crypt of the existing temple.

Finally, a Gothic sacral building was erected on the site of a Romanesque church. Its construction took place in three stages. At the beginning of the 14th century, choirs appeared in the Gothic style. Then, in the late 15th - early 16th centuries, the western tower 82 meters high was erected. In 1602, lightning struck the wooden dome of the tower, which set it on fire. It was never restored. In 1553 the nave, transept and 8 side chapels were built. In 1559 (or according to other sources - in 1561) the church received the status of a cathedral. The temple received a new patron Saint Bavo a little later.

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Topic: Cathedral of St. Bavo (Sint Baafskathedraal) description and photos - Belgium: Ghent.