Grote of Sint-Barbarakerk: A Gothic Protestant Church in Culemborg
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Netherlands
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page18 sections
History
The Grote of Sint-Barbarakerk is a Protestant Gothic cross-shaped basilica in the Netherlands, whose present form developed chiefly during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The church grew from a small chapel connected with the parish of Beusichem and became an independent parish church in 1310 under Jan van Beusichem. It later served as a burial church for the lords of Culemborg and became a collegiate church dedicated to Saint Barbara.
From Chapel to Parish Church
A small chapel stood on the site around 1300. In 1310, Jan van Beusichem placed it under the authority of the Utrecht Chapter of Saint John when it was raised to independent parish status. Tradition credits him with commissioning a new church on the chapel’s site. During the following two centuries, the lords of Culemborg sponsored repeated alterations and enlargements, while also using the church for family burials.
The Collegiate Church
In 1421, Hubert III of Culemborg founded a chapter of eight canons dedicated to Saint Barbara. A collegiate church was served by such a chapter, whose members shared responsibility for its religious services; its dean was the presiding officer. The dean lived in the Dekenije, a house opposite the church. From this foundation onward, the church was dedicated to Saint Barbara, an early Christian martyr traditionally regarded as a patron saint in situations involving sudden death and danger.
The elevation to collegiate status accompanied a major building phase. The choir, rood screen, and transept were constructed in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, while the nave probably acquired its present form through the rebuilding of an earlier pseudo-basilica. A pseudo-basilica has a raised central nave without the full clerestory arrangement of a true basilica. Elisabeth of Culemborg later supported further enlargement and decoration, including the construction of the sacristy.
Reformation and Destruction
The church suffered extensive damage during the Beeldenstorm, or Iconoclastic Fury, on 14 September 1566. This wave of Protestant attacks on Catholic religious images and furnishings affected churches across the Low Countries. At Culemborg, chapels, statues, and altars were destroyed, and the stained-glass windows were replaced with plain glass.
Although it had originally been Roman Catholic, the church was transferred to Protestant use during the Reformation in 1578. Its interior was later devastated by a tower fire. Lightning struck the spire in 1654, and the resulting blaze caused part of the tower to fall into the nave and destroyed the interior. The church was repaired, but the spire was not rebuilt.
Restoration and Continuing Use
A major restoration took place between 1963 and 1968, with work beginning in 1964 and including the temporary removal of the rich seventeenth- and eighteenth-century furnishings. The floor-heating system was renewed and extended in 2012. The church has been a Rijksmonument, a nationally protected monument in the Netherlands, since 30 March 1971.
The tower’s carillon was repaired in 2021 with new clappers and a new playing console. A Hemony bell that had been sold to Hilvarenbeek returned to Culemborg in 2010 through the mediation of Gideon Bodden and was installed in the carillon in 2021. Peter Bremer was the carillonneur in 2023.
Remains
The surviving church is a plain Gothic building shaped as a cross, with a basilican plan and construction principally in brick. Its projecting transept forms the cross arms, while the nave, side aisles, choir, chapels, sacristy, and tower passage preserve evidence of successive medieval and early modern building phases. Wooden barrel vaults cover the entire church and are supported by tie beams, horizontal members that brace the roof or vault system. Simple columns and a two-part wall elevation contribute to the restrained interior form.
Medieval Building
Nave and Side Aisles
The nave probably reached its present arrangement in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, when an earlier pseudo-basilica was rebuilt. The side aisles were widened around 1500. During the first quarter of the sixteenth century, two chapels were added at transept level: the Cross Chapel on the south side and the Mary Chapel on the north side. Together, these changes preserve the church’s gradual expansion around its central nave and crossing.
Choir and Transept
The choir, rood screen, and transept belong to the second quarter of the fifteenth century. A rood screen is a partition separating the choir from the nave, traditionally associated with a crucifix. The transept, the cross arm of the church, contains two covered seigneurial pews from the last quarter of the seventeenth century. These reserved enclosed or canopied seats were associated with local lords or governing families. The southern pew came from the Sint-Janskerk in the southern suburb, was enlarged in the nineteenth century, and carries a painted town coat of arms.
Sacristy
South of the choir stands a two-storey sacristy with a three-sided termination and a stair tower. Its ground floor has a net vault, whose ribs form a net-like pattern, resting on carved corbels. This part of the building dates from around 1525 and belongs to the later medieval enlargement supported by Elisabeth of Culemborg.
Interior Furnishings and Memorials
Seventeenth-Century Woodwork
The pulpit and its brass lectern date from 1658. The baptismal railing, brass candlesticks, and pews beside the western crossing piers form a seventeenth-century ensemble made by the Utrecht cabinetmaker Joris Fluyt. The pews have a canopy dating from around 1800. Fluyt also made the two portals installed in the north and south side aisles during the third quarter of the seventeenth century.
Tombs and Epitaphs
The north ambulatory, a passage around or behind the choir, contains three damaged votive stones with reliefs dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The choir holds a stone tombstone from 1451 for Elisabeth van Buren, wife of Gerhard II of Culemborg, decorated with Gothic foliage. Numerous carved tombstones from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries also survive in the church.
A white-marble tomb in the choir commemorates Catharina Alida van der Dussen. Enclosed by a wrought-iron railing, it was made in 1746 by I. Pollina and has a crowning putto, a decorative representation of a small child, by J. Francois Maas. In the southern transept, a sandstone epitaph from 1655 commemorates Frederic d’Orville and has a carved frame.
Tower Passage
The passage from the nave to the tower is closed by a fifteenth-century iron-studded door. Later doors cover it on both sides, preserving the older door within the layered entrance arrangement.
Organs and Bells
Main Organ
The main organ was built by Matthijs Verhofstadt in 1719. Its carved case was altered in 1804, and the instrument was restored in 1971. It has a main division and a lower positive, with 28 stops distributed across two manuals and a pedal. An independent pedal was added during restoration around 1970.
Choir Organ
The choir organ was built around 1750 by Vitus Wiegleb. It has one manual with an attached pedal and 11 stops. The instrument was installed in Culemborg in 1968 after earlier use in Naarden and Baarn, then restored in 1971.
Carillon
The tower contains a 47-bell carillon, a tuned set of bells played mechanically or from a keyboard. It includes nine bass bells cast by the Hemony brothers and one cracked bell. Four Hemony bass bells were sold in 1870; two later returned, while the other two were recast by Eijsbouts in 1952. The Hemony bell sold to Hilvarenbeek and returned in 2010 was added to the carillon in 2021.
