Sint-Adrianus

Kerknet

The first church at this location was presumably constructed in wood during the first half of the eleventh century. It was replaced by a Romanesque church around 1200. The tower and the southern facade have been preserved and are now protected heritage. The whole building was restored in 1981 and the original Romanesque brickwork at the bottom of the building now receives the attention it deserves. The church was dedicated to Our Lady until the seventeenth century when it became dedicated to Saint-Adrian.*

In 1842 a massive renovation, led by Minard, an architect from Ghent, was completed. The whole church was demolished, apart from the tower and the transept. The transept became the facade of the present western oriented church. Several memorial stones and a roofed Calvary made by Mathhias Zens in 1890 can now be seen on the facade.

In 1960 the choir was painted with numerous decorative religious symbols by Oscar Hoge and six stained glass windows with figurative scenes were put into place in between the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.

The high altar (a polychromatic porch altar) was carved by Karel Bruggeman. The statue of Saint-Adrian, which stands in the niche of the altar, was donated by knight Stroo from Eeklo in 1860.

The seventeenth century confessional and baptismal font immediately strike the eye. The oak confessional is decorated elaborately and shows in its centre the ‘Veil of Veronica’ (the veil Veronica offered Christ to wipe off his sweat and blood while carrying the cross of Golgotha). The baptismal font is made out of marble and bluestone. It has an inscription on the edge that says that it was donated by Matthias Valcke in 1662.

* According to the tales, Saint Adrian has spared Adegem from the plague: “When in 1349 big parts of Flanders and Europe were ravaged by the plague, the villagers carried the statue of Saint Adrian through the village every day. He was called for all contagious diseases. All the fields and trees beyond the village border coloured black and withered. The plague remained in the trees and everybody in Adegem was spared.” De Eecklonaer, 1858

Sources : Bogaert, Chris en Lanclus, Kathleen, Inventaris van het bouwkundig erfgoed, Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen, Gemeenten: Assenede, Eeklo, Kaprijke, Maldegem en Sint-Laureins, Bouwen door de eeuwen heen in Vlaanderen 21N & www.kerkeninvlaanderen.be

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