Saint-Nicolas

Situated on the right bank of the Ourthe, below the county castle, facing the famous rocky fold of Omalius, the present parish church of Durbuy was once the sanctuary of a community of religious: the Récollets.  

In the 17th century, in the house of his father, which he donated to the church, Laurent le Jeune, dean of the collegiate church of Maastricht, built the convent of the Récollets. It was the King of Spain, Philip IV, who gave him the green light to begin the work. Thirteen years later, in 1642, the church was consecrated and dedicated to the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.

It was not until 1810 that the church of the Récollets became the church of the Durbuysians, after the convent was abolished and the demolition of the old parish church became too old. It thus took the name and became the church of Saint-Nicolas.

The 39-metre-long limestone building mixes several architectural styles. The Gothic nave (1630), the classical choir (1766) and the neo-Gothic roofs (completed in 1845) form a harmonious whole and mark the different periods of transformation of the church.

Inside, apart from the traces of a semicircular vault in the attic, there are no traces of the original construction.

Today, St. Nicholas's Church is a well-maintained church that is an unmissable stopover for tourists strolling through the cobbled streets of the world's smallest town, or for those who enjoy a game of mini-golf nearby.  It hosts a daily religious service and various activities are regularly organised.

The Espace Saint-Nicolas next to the church has a bookshop and a room for family activities and company seminars. 

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