{"id":38039,"date":"2021-05-27T13:46:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T11:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topa.be\/sint-jacob\/kennismaking\/"},"modified":"2022-04-08T19:31:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T17:31:23","slug":"kennismaking","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/topa.be\/en\/sint-jacob\/kennismaking\/","title":{"rendered":"SJK A brief survey"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Saint James\u2019 church<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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A short guide for a visit<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dear visitor, welcome to our \u2018prestigious\u2019 parish church. We hope that once you have left the stress of Antwerp\u2019s shopping streets behind you, you will\u00a0feel at home<\/strong>\u00a0in this fascinating \u2018house of God\u2019. In this monumental church, where impressive Gothic architecture and amusing Baroque art go surprisingly well together, you may enjoy endless beauty and everything that is permeated by God\u2019s eternal love.<\/p>\n

The artistic importance of this church is due to\u00a0the unbelievable richness<\/strong>\u00a0of Renaissance and Baroque art: there are for instance 24 altars with almost as many paintings. But even more spectacular is the exuberant Baroque sculpture art, e.g. the high altar, communion-rails and funeral monuments. Finally, the memorial chapel of great master Peter Paul Rubens makes this church a must for every tourist. The actual restoration is to be completed by 2027.<\/p>\n

As in many European cities, the history of Antwerp St James\u2019s church started here in the 14th<\/sup>\u00a0C. outside the city walls as a guest house for pilgrims from the north of Europe who were\u00a0on their way to\u00a0<\/strong>the tomb of the apostle James in\u00a0Santiago de Compostella<\/strong>. In 1415 the guild of Saint James added a chapel. Still today, pilgrims come here to ask a blessing for their journey. They are given a pilgrimage booklet which is stamped at every visit to a Saint James sanctuary. Once arrived in Compostella they receive a shell to hang around their neck as a sign of their pilgrimage. You can find this and other travel attributes like the staff, calabash, hat, and cape incorporated in the decora-tions of the tower, as on a house at the corner of Lange Nieuwstraat, and in the church as a whole.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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LEGEND<\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Choir and chancel with the main altar of St. James
\nB<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Our Lady\u2019s chapel
\nC<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
\nD<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Chapel of the Holy Cross
\nE<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. Christopher\u2019s Chapel (Peat carriers)
\nF<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. Dymphna\u2019s Chapel\u00a0 (Rockox family)
\nG<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Chapel of St. Joseph and the Three Magi (Woodchoppers)
\nH<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Chapel of the Sweet Name of Jesus (tomb van Lantschot)
\nI<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 St. Gertrude’s Chapel (Faithful Souls)
\nJ<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Watch Museum (since 1984) with adjoining Lady\u2019s corridor
\nK<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Baptistery
\nK2<\/strong>\u00a0 (former) St. George’s Chapel (until 1581?),
\n(former) Baptistery (until 1804)
\nSaint Roch panels
\nL<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Chapel of the Presentation of Mary (Silk workers) (until 1797)
\nSt. George’s Chapel (since 1867)
\nM<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. Antony\u2019s Chapel
\nN<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 St. Roch Chapel
\nO<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 St. Job\u2019s Chapel (Musicians)
\nP<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. Anne\u2019s Chapel
\nQ<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. John\u2019s Chapel
\nR<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Chapel of the Holy Trinity\u00a0(Freeing Christian Slaves)
\nR2<\/strong> Treasury
\nS<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. Ivo’s Chapel (Lawyers)
\nT<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Resurrection Chapel (families Vincque and Le Cand\u00e8le)
\nU<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows (burial chapel of the Rubens\u2019 family)
\nV<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. Charles Borromeo\u2019s Chapel (Carenna family)
\nW<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0St. Peter and Paul\u2019s Chapel (Bollaert family)
\nX<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Mary\u2019s Visitation Chapel (Lopez-Franco family)
\nY<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Celebrartion altar
\nZ<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Wedding Chapel<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u2666 In 1476, 15 years after the chapel had been promoted parish church, construction of the actual church started in the\u00a0Brabantine<\/strong>\u00a0Gothic style<\/strong>. Thanks to a row of chapels next to both aisles there is a three-dimensional effect that is unique in Antwerp. The strong pillars are even more conspicuous. For reasons of stability and for unity in style, the builders continued the eastern part with the choir and the ambulatory in Gothic style, although it was the first half of the 17th<\/sup>\u00a0C., in the full Baroque period. Even Baroque master P. P. Rubens received a memorial chapel in Gothic style (\u21d2\u00a0U<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\u2666<\/strong>\u00a0The universal temptation to always have more, and thus build ever taller, stimulated the builders to have (only) one\u00a0tower<\/strong>\u00a0that would\u00a0place into shadow even the tall tower of Our-Lady\u2019s Cathedral. However, in the end, only one third of this 150 m tall dream was realized. Despite this frustration, St James\u2019s church has a\u00a0strong\u00a0solid tower, which has not only been an essential part of Antwerp\u2019s skyline for already 500 years, but which also functions as a surprise effect in the maze of narrow streets of the old centre.<\/p>\n

\u2666<\/strong>\u00a0As a\u00a0parish church<\/strong>\u00a0St James\u2019s church too \u2013 just like Our Lady\u2019s Cathedral \u2013 offered a place for the chapels of some\u00a0smaller corporations<\/strong>, such as the peat bearers (\u21d2\u00a0E<\/strong>) and the silk workers (their triptych: \u21d2\u00a0L<\/strong>). The musicians, around the figure of the miserable Job, show their inspiring wind as well as string instruments (\u21d2\u00a0O<\/strong>).\u00a0 Some of the corporations chose their patron saints as professional role models; St Ivo, who defended the poor \u2018pro bono\u2019, for the lawyers (\u21d2\u00a0S<\/strong>), St Joseph for the carpenters (\u21d2 G<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Besides, many\u00a0confraternities<\/strong>\u00a0used to practice their devotion in their own chapels. So did the brotherhood of the Holy Trinity, which raised money to free Christian slaves in North Africa (\u21d2\u00a0R<\/strong>). The most prestigious confraternities, those with the largest chapels, are still active: the one of the Blessed Sacrament (\u21d2\u00a0C<\/strong>), and the one of Our Lady (\u21d2\u00a0B<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\u2666 (\u21d2 A) After\u00a0the choir<\/strong>\u00a0had been finished, a chapter was established in 1656. Until 1801, the church enjoyed the status of a\u00a0\u2018collegiate\u2019 church<\/strong>, due to the canons of the chapter. Every day, on fixed hours, they would come to the\u00a0choirstalls<\/strong>\u00a0to pray and sing in honour of God. Even the flora and fauna join in this hymn as you can notice in the sculpture; the imagination of uncle and nephew Artus I and Artus II Quellin (1658-\u201870) is truly magnificent. Everyone\u2019s attention is drawn to the glorification of St James on the flamboyant and triumphant marble high altar (Artus II Quellin and Willem Kerrickx 1685). God sits on his throne under a (wooden) baldachin in the shape of an enormous, open scallop. Another characteristic feature of St James\u2019s church is the 17th<\/sup>\u00a0C. rood loft (Sebastiaan de Neve), with an organ by the famous Jan-Baptist Forceville (1727), of which the tracker action still functions. Michiel I Van der Voort carved the angels playing music.<\/p>\n

\u2666 Unfortunately, the original Gothic and early Renaissance art pieces are no longer present. They were destroyed in the two iconoclasms of 1566 and 1581. After the Calvinist occupation had ended, the nave was given back to the Catholics in 1585. One\u00a0altarpiece,\u00a0The life of Saint Roch<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(1517), survived these disastrous annihilations (\u21d2\u00a0K2<\/strong>). The revival of Catholic faith created an enormously rich Baroque artistic patrimony, as for instance a plenitude of different marbles. The fact that almost everything in St James\u2019s church has been preserved is exceptional. This is thanks to a priest who was loyal to the French revolutionary rule and swore an oath of allegiance to the French Republic. As a sort of reward, he could indicate one church in Antwerp to be spared.
\nAs a result, the\u00a0treasury<\/strong>\u00a0(\u21d2<\/strong>\u00a0R2<\/strong>) has a host of liturgical tools, both silversmiths\u2019 work and textiles. Still the destruction of most stained windows by V-bombs (which landed in the area) at the end of the WW II was a tragic loss for the church. In the 1960\u2019s most of them were renewed by Oscar Calders after a design of Louis-Charles Crespin. Fortunately the oldest window (ca. 1535),\u00a0The Last Supper<\/em>\u00a0in St Hubert\u2019s chapel (\u21d2\u00a0E<\/strong>) survived.<\/p>\n

\u2666 (\u21d2\u00a0C<\/strong>) In the\u00a0Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament<\/strong>\u00a0you can admire the beauty of Baroque sculptures at their highest level. In a panel at the left of the\u00a0altar<\/strong>\u00a0(Lodewijk Willemssens and Petrus I Verbruggen, 1690) an altar boy with jingling sacring bells calls the attention for the consecration. Particularly attractive are the\u00a0communion rails<\/strong>, which were designed by Willem Kerrickx and Hendrik Verbruggen in 1695. The rails were so realistically carved that one almost forgets that they are made of marble. Angelic altar boys adore Jesus in the appearance of bread and wine with the appropriate gestures and they recognise Him in the real Lamb of God.
\nThe stained glass window shows a marvellous green landscape. This masterpiece by Jan de Labaer (1626) represents, in several scenes, the story of Rudolf of Habsburg, who was willing to offer his horse to a priest so that he could administer the last sacraments and Holy Communion to a dying person.<\/p>\n

\u2666 (\u21d2\u00a0B<\/strong>)\u00a0Our Lady\u2019s chapel<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Since 1664 Our Lady has been masterly honoured between the helical columns of the altar by Sebastiaan van den Eynde. Once the Confraternity of the Dejected Mother (= The Sorrowful Mother) flourished here by the devotional statue\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Pi\u00ebta<\/em>\u00a0(Artus II Quellin, 1650). Since the 19th\u00a0<\/sup>C\u00a0Our Lady \u2013 Auxiliary of the Christians<\/em>\u00a0has been on the altar. The two magnificent stained-glass windows show happier moments in her life:\u00a0The Annunciation (to Mary)<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elisabeth\u00a0<\/em>(Jan de Labaer, 1629 and 1644).
\n<\/em>Have you ever seen a pig eating in a church? Take a look at the Prodigal Son. As an example for all converted sinners, he stands near one of the\u00a0confessionals<\/strong>\u00a0to support other sinners in finding reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u2666 St James\u2019s is rich in\u00a0memorial monuments<\/strong>\u00a0because it used to be the parish church of many upper-class people in the 17th<\/sup>\u00a0and 18th<\/sup>\u00a0C. Some other monuments were placed in the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0C.
\n(\u21d2\u00a0E<\/strong>) Do you feel compassion with the mother who ordered a portrait statue for her dead son, a\u00a0Carthusian monk<\/strong>? The young monk with the shaved head is concentrated \u2018in the eternal adoration\u2019.
\n(\u21d2\u00a0H<\/strong>) What do you think of\u00a0Mr<\/strong>\u00a0Cornelis Lantschot<\/strong>, who was so confident about a place in heaven because of his many alms and his \u2018powerful\u2019 prayers?
\n(\u21d2<\/strong>\u00a0I<\/strong>) Did you ever see a strategist who, despite his genius and his impressive arsenal, still has to surrender to the one last enemy, death itself? Indeed, Don Francesco Marcos Del Pico,\u00a0the marquis of Velasco<\/strong>, once governor of the citadel, doesn\u2019t present himself as a very important person (VIP) any longer, but shares the final destiny of all mortals.<\/p>\n

Some fortunate 17th<\/sup>\u00a0C. families paid for\u00a0private memorial chapels<\/strong>.
\n(\u21d2<\/strong>\u00a0U<\/strong>) The most famous among them is that of the family of\u00a0P.P. Rubens<\/strong>\u00a0(Our Lady\u2019s chapel, in the eastern part of the church). This chapel was completed in 1645, five years after his death. Rubens himself dedicated the painting\u00a0Our Lady Surrounded by Saints<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 which for reasons unknown never reached its original destination \u2013 to his own memorial chapel. So, don\u2019t look for portraits of his relatives, nor of himself here. On the occasion of Rubens\u2019s demise, a clergyman testified:\u00a0\u201cNow he has gone to the original of several beautiful paintings that he has left us.\u201d
\n<\/em>(\u21d2\u00a0V<\/strong>) The Carenna family of Milanese origin chose\u00a0Saint Charles Borromeo of Milan<\/strong>, represented as patron saint of the plague-ridden by Jacques (\u2018James\u2019) Jordaens.<\/p>\n

\u2666<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The tub of the pulpit, made by Lodewijk Willemssens in 1675, is carried by allegoric figures. In the middle is Faith, the important virtue, supported not only by Truth but also by Theology as the intellectual side of it. Faith must be proclaimed in preaching to instruct the people, but always in full respect of the truth. Almost hidden under the stairs\u00a0Instruction<\/em>\u00a0holds up a mirror with the text: \u201cLook here and you\u2019ll become wiser.\u201d Teachers aim to inspire people by having them reflect about famous model figures that can be an example in a particular field. The question is always: \u201cWho is my model?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2666 And it is from the lower open level of the tower that the monumental Anneessen organ (1884) has its sound reverberated in the church.<\/p>\n

\u2666<\/strong>\u00a0The church received the honour of the title \u2018prestigious collegiate\u2019 given to the chapter by pope Clemens XI in 1705. With the chapter that title was abolished in 1801. However, people are more than impressed by all the richness and the beauty. At the end of the 19th C., a German visitor described Saint James\u2019s church as follows: \u201cthe richest church of the Germanic countries should be in Venice\u201d. Well, even though the Antwerp chauvinists have enjoyed that compliment, they of course prefer to keep Saint James\u2019s church close to themselves.<\/p>\n

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