Saint Donat

Tuesday 10 am
Friday 8.30 am
Sunday 9.30 am

The church is dedicated to Donat of Reims, a French bishop from the 4th century and patron saint of the city of Bruges. The parish was erected at the request of a school nurse named Joshephine in 1900, when the expansion of Zeebrugge began.

From 1910-1911, a church was built according to a design by René Buyck. There was a fire on the 8th of May of 1918 in which the church was almost completely destroyed. The church was later restored in 1920 and was put into use once again. During the Second World War, the church had again been heavily destroyed. One had to make use of an emergency church until the church was rebuilt in 1951.

The church referred to, is a three naved hall church in neo gothic style. She has a tower, eight sided at the top and four sided at the bottom. The glass windows from 1966 are a creation by Lionel Holvoet from Wevelgem. In the church, one can find two scale models and a dinghy Saint-Peter referring to the history of fishing. Current affairs are present in the art work referring to the recent fugitives at sea. Temporary exhibitions were dedicated to different maritime disasters, amongst which there was the disaster of the Herald of Free Enterprise (1987).

A wall carries the stone caption, for four British military men, that fell into action during an attack on the port of Zeebrugge.

At the church, lies a graveyard with both British and German war graves from the First World War. It is a British-German military burial ground with 175 Germans (amongst which three remain unidentified) and thirty Brits (amongst which seventeen remain unidentified). There are lime trees all around the graveyard, and in the grapevine covered fence walls, one can find a round arched gate with the following caption: “DEUTSCHER EHRENFRIEDHOF ZEEBRÜGGE NR. 184 / PATE ORTSGRUPPE BLANKENBURG/HARZ / VOLKSBUND DEUTSCHE KRIEGSGRÄBERFÜRSORGE.” Also at the entrance gate there is a green picture with Commonwealth War Graves / Commonwealth War Graves.

Onroerend Erfgoed 2020: Sint-Donaaskerk
                                             Zeebrugge Memorial

KIKIRPA : Photo-library online