 's-Heerenberg (G): St. Pancratius (A. Tepe, 1891-1897)  The parish of 's-Heerenberg was founded in
1399, twenty years after the town was given city rights. Before that it belonged
to the parish of Zeddam. Since ca. 1260 the town had a chapel near the
local castle which, when extended, served as the parish church. In 1674, a few
decades ater the Reformation when the church was confiscated by the protestants,
the catholics built a barn church. In 1805 a new church was built in the garden of the steward A.F. Baustetter,
who also paid for its construction. A small bell tower was added in 1809,
paid for by king Lodewijk Napoleon. The Baustetterkerk served until 1897 even
though already in 1865 it had become too small. In 1868 a fire, which destroyed
many houses in the area, also damaged the tower so badly it had to be torn down. In 1890 enough money had been collected for a new church and at the end of
that year, after his churches in Maarssen and Abcoude had been visited and
approved, architect A. Tepe was commissioned to make a design. Due to the
involvement of the count of Berg, Leopold van Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who paid
for most of the work but resided far away in the south of Germany, a big church
could be built. Yet, the count's final approval only arrived in March 1895, and
work began the next year. In 1897 the church was finally completed. It's a three-aisled cruciform basilica in Tepe's usual neo-Gothic style, built of brick and largely without external ornaments. The impressive tower shows a clear influence of Lower Rhineland Gothic and has much in common with Tepe's tower in Maarssen. That goes for the actual church as well, although the prominent flying buttresses Tepe added in Maarssen are missing here.
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