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Horst (L): H. Lambertus (A.J.N. Boosten, 1950-1954)

Horst lost its church in the closing months of World War Two, when German troops blew up the tower. After the war the remains of the Gothic hall church, the outer walls of the nave and the choir and some pillars and arches of the inside, where considered to be too unstable to use again. A temporary church was made out of the cattle market hall (F.P.J. Peutz, 1937) and would serve until 1952.

While in nearby Sevenum, where the Gothic church had suffered a fate similar to the one in Horst, a new church in Traditionalist style was built to replace the old one, the H.H. Fabianus en Sebastianus by H.W. Valk, Horst chose a much more modern design by A.J.N. Boosten.

Boosten was invited in 1948 to become the architect of the new church. Several designs were made and many changes were made before in January 1950 the final design was accepted. It took another year and a half before work started. By then Boosten unfortunately had died and the work was carried out by his former assistant Jean Huysmans. In November 1952 the church was used for the first time although it wasn't finished yet, the tower still missing.

Like its predecessor, the current church is a hall-church, but unlike the Gotic church the pillars inside are thin and hardly disturb the view at the altar. The church is five aisles wide, of which the outer aisles are very narrow. Only the central aisle is not covered by a flat roof, all the others are. The choir has the form of a low round tower and has an ambulatory. Underneath the choir is a crypt. 

Although Boosten's churches never were conventional, this church is something special. First, the position of the tower at the back of the church is unusual. While in his first three designs Boosten had positioned the tower at the west end of the church, in his fourth design he had moved it to the north-eastern corner. It was one of the more controversial parts of Boosten's design. It is made up of two parts, an open octagonal upper part and a square lower part. This tower was eventually built in 1954.

To compensate for the missing west tower, Boosten planned an atrium at the front of the church, extending from the side-aisles. This atrium, the only one in the Netherlands, surrounds three sides of a courtyard, while the actual church facade closes off the fourth side. This part of the design was also controversial but was eventually accepted.

Although in its time sometimes criticized for its unconventional looks, today the H. Lambertus is regarded as one of Boosten's most important designs. 

 
 
 
 
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