Sint-Denijs

+32 473 67 14 64 - p.a.matthijs@telenet.be

only funerals, weddings and occasional celebrations

The present church is located on the old church site of this centuries-old village and adjacent to one side of the cemetery. Already in the 12th century there would have been a house of prayer. Serskamp was then ”one of the Count’s own villages”, along with 20 other villages in the region of Aalst. This meant that the village was directly under the authority of the Count of Flanders, and he had special rights there, like administering justice.

In 1848 the city council decided to replace the church, which fell into decay and became too small. However, the construction work could only start after 1855, when priest and architect Jan-August Clarysse, assistant priest of Wingene at that time, came up with suitable plans. A three-aisled neo-Gothic church was built, dedicated to Saint Dionysius. The bluestone memorial stone to the right of the portal refers to the first stonelaying in 1856.
The church is built in red “karelen”, building material coming from the nearby 'stone-village' Rupelmonde. The tower has five sections which are different in height, and a highly constricted octagonal slate spire on top.

On the outside a covered calvary stands against the choir. In the front you see a call to commemorate the deceased family and pray for their souls. Central under the Calvary mountain a commemorative plaque is put in an arched cut-away. In memory of Petrus Livinus Dalschaert, deceased in 1871. There are also memorial tablets in memory of F. Dalschaert and A.M. Van Hauwermeire. In 2001 two restored late 18th-century tombstones of clergy were placed against the façade of the church.

The church was conceived as a total work of art and it was decorated in the Gothic Revival style. Unfortunately, the colourful neo-Gothic frescoes were overpainted in the 1970s. Only in the choir several murals were spared.

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