Protection order for Nieuwerck, Antwerp’s underground church
Geert Bourgeois has signed an act that will ensure the preservation of the remains of a church designed to rival Our Lady of Antwerp in the 16th century
The church that never was
The garden at the foot of Antwerp’s Cathedral (pictured) is an oasis of calm in the hustle and bustle of the city. Beneath it are the remains of a 16th-century construction site, the result of a failed attempt to expand the present church.
The completion of Antwerp’s Gothic cathedral took nearly 200 years, from 1352 to 1521. Cathedrals were built for eternity, of course, so there was no need to rush. When Our Lady was nearly finished, however, the people of Antwerp felt it lacked grandeur and started to build an even bigger church right beside it.
This Nieuwerck, old Dutch for “new work”, was designed by the architects Domien De Waghemakere and Rombout Keldermans. Emperor Charles V, at the time the ruler of the region, laid the first stone himself.
Restoration, not construction
The plans were impressive: a huge choir, a subterranean crypt and no fewer than nine chapels on the outside of the building. In the first years, the building steadily progressed and a large part of the walls, pillars and chapels were finished.
But less than a decade later, enthusiasm for Nieuwerck waned. The pace of construction slowed, and on the night of 5 October, 1533, things went really wrong. Fire broke out inside the cathedral of Our Lady and damaged the roof and the nave. Restoration took priority over new construction, and in 1537, a line was drawn under the plans. It’s a pity, really, as it would have been quite a monument.
The archaeological value of the Nieuwerck is really significant
What had been erected was not demolished, however. Some clever Antwerp residents used the unfinished walls to build their houses against, a common practice at the time since it meant one less wall you had to build yourself. But in the late 19th century, some of those houses were cleared to make way for the garden.
At the request of the council of Our Lady Cathedral, the procedure of provisional protection for the Nieuwerck was recently put in motion. This was necessary because the site has never been properly protected, says Petra Broeders, spokesperson for Onroerend Erfgoed, the institution responsible for the protection of heritage. “The archaeological value of the Nieuwerck is really significant,” she says. “The provisional protection will be followed by permanent protection within a year.”
The fact that the building was never finished makes the Nieuwerck invaluable for researchers, offering an understanding of 16th century building techniques. It’s the only site of its kind in Flanders.
Some investigation has already been done on the Nieuwerck, including drilling, sonar research and an inventory of the surrounding houses. But for now there is no new research planned, says Broeders. As long as no interventions in the soil have to be done, the site will remain as it is today, preserved by a solid layer of earth for the next generation of archaeologists.
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