Saint Vincent

Kerknet

The church of Saint Vincent is a colossal building of bricks (1878-1883). It contains a major Neo-Gothic treasure. The architect de Noyette had a tower nearly 100 m tall erected; 14 m more than the tower of the church of Saint Bavon in Ghent.

The cabinetmaker Karel Smitz created the cathedra, the communion rail, the confessionals and even the organ case. Other artists have contributed to the embellishment of the church: Louis Bressers painted the frescoes, Honoré Verwilghen the paintings in the choir. The parish is proud of its organs. The first organ (1856, by Lovaert) was repaired and transformed in 1904 while the second organ (1830, by Van Peteghem) was installed in the church in 2005 after the closing of the church of the Capucin nuns.

During the renovation of the heating system in 2005, archaeologists found foundations of ancient structures. These are visible through an opening. 

One brief anecdote: a legend from the Middle Ages tells of a magician baker from Eeklo who could reshape heads, to remove undesirable features from them, by putting them in the oven. From this comes the nickname of the inhabitants of Eeklo ‘de herbakkers’ (the bakers who rebake). One can see the statue of this magician baker, the ‘Herbakker’ in the market square.

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