Our Lady of the Assumption

Until 1570, Ertvelde belonged to the diocese of Utrecht, then to the diocese of Ghent, deanery of Evergem. Religious conflicts and French wars in the 16th and 17th centuries caused repeated destruction, and after a fire in 1585 the church was restored in the mid 17th century. 

Since 1839, the church has had three bells, two donated. In 1851, it was enlarged according to plans by Louis Minard of Ghent. Until the early 20th century, it was a three aisled church with a crossing tower. 

In 1918, during WWI, the tower was dynamited; in 1940, during WWII, the church suffered the same fate. In 1951, it was decided to demolish the building—except for the choir—down to a height of three meters. 

The current church dates from 1954 and was designed by architect Henri Vaerwyck. Two new bells were donated in 1951 to replace wartime losses, and a new organ was purchased in 2011. Today it is a modern brick church of eight bays under a gable roof, with a tall square western tower and a slightly projecting gabled portal decorated with a Calvary relief by Oscar Sinia.

The surviving 16th century sandstone choir, restored in the early 17th century, has a three sided closure, ogival triforas between carved buttresses, windows renewed in 1792 and fitted with stained glass in 1881. 

The northern sacristy, also sandstone, is a one aisled rectangular space with a barrel vault divided by transverse arches on a semicircular arcade, and pseudo side aisles with a coffered ceiling.

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