Ossenisse
(Z): St. Willibrordus (W. te Riele, 1914-1915)
In
1796 the old church of Ossenisse was returned to its catholic
population, after having been protestant officially for almost 200
years. For lack of protestants in this region, it was probably
hardly used and returned to the rightful owners in a very bad state.
Already in 1608 it had been largely destroyed by a flood. The remaining
building was repaired in 1821 but in 1855 it was demolished, except for
the choir, and replaced by a new church. Within 60 years this church
was ruined by moisture and needed replacing itself. In 1913 permission
for this was given by the bishop of Breda, and in 1914-1915 the new
church, designed by W.A.M. te Riele, was build.
Te Riele designed a three-aisled cruciform church in neo-Gothic style.
It's a centralizing church and has an unusual ground plan; instead of a
traditional nave there's a wide but short
space
which is not much more than a portal. Behind this is the main
space, which has a square shape. Like the entire church, this space is
covered by brick vaults, which are supported by thin pillars. It has
been suggested that Te Riele might have used the old choir or a part of
it, but there's no hard evidence to support this, although the windows
of the choir are different than the others. The entire exterior is in
typical Te Riele style, with narrow pointed windows and friezes with
mosaics in their arches, a feature found on some of Te Riele's other
churches from this period. At the southern side of the nave is a tower.
In 1998 the church was closed. Part of it was transformed into a house,
while the rest of it is used for public activities.
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