Terheijden (NB): St. Antonius Abt
The
St. Antonius Abt was founded in the 15th century. At first, probably a
wooden church was built. This may have lasted for about a century, or
it may have been replaced by another wooden church. Certain is that
work on the current church only began well after its founding.
First parts built was the tower, which was completed in
the 15th century. The choir and transept were built in c. 1500. The
nave was built around its wooden predecessor in 1542-1546.
After the Eighty Years War, in 1648, the church
was confiscated by the new protestant authorities and handed over to
the protestant minority. In c. 1800, a few years after a French
invasion
made an end to protestant rule, it was returned to
the catholics. In 1820 it was restored. At this time the
transept was renewed and new portals were added.
Another restoration followed in 1876-1878 by P.J.H.
Cuypers. He
replaced the wooden barrel-vaults of the choir, transept and
side-aisles
by stone ones and added a wooden segment to the tower. In 1922 a fire
destroyed all of Cuypers' changes.His son J.Th.J. Cuypers repaired the
damage. The lost vaults were replaced by
wooden ones. The neo-Gothic sacristy at the south side of the choir was
without a doubt added by one of these architects, but when is not
known.
At the end of World War Two the roofs and the stair-turret
of the tower were destroyed. In 1949 all damage was repaired.
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