Open Churches Days at
Sint-Pieter

In the 12th-13th century, on the place where the Flemish count Robrecht de Fries is said to have founded a house of prayer in 1073, a Romanesque church was built, dedicated to Saint Peter. At the end of the 15th- first half of the 16th century it was converted into a Gothic hall church. In 1638 the church was struck by lightning and fire. It took until the 19th century before it was fully restored.

In the First World War the church was again completely destroyed. Some old pictures of the church bear witness to this. Architect J. Coomans integrated the spared wall parts during the reconstruction and replaced the Gothic superstructure of the tower with a Romanesque one. The massive church entrance does not suggest that such a bright prayer room can be found behind it, with a beautiful hemmed high choir, flanked on the right by a small exhibition of old church treasures and on the left by a space for changing exhibitions.