O.L.V. Visiting

The wall openings of the church of Lombardsijde are all round-arched, making it a neo-Romanesque church. It was designed by the Ostend architectural duo Pil and Carbon. Together with the church, they also designed the cloister that is placed around the church in 1922. This consists of 14 brick chapels featuring painted scenes about Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.
At the beginning of World War I, the village and the neoclassical aisle church, which had been here since the late 18th century, were completely destroyed.
The current church has a modest interior; the interior walls are left in bare brick, and the vaults were whitewashed. However, the colorful stained glass windows from 1966, designed by the Ostend artist Cor Westerduin, create a special atmosphere. The stained glass in the choir symbolizes the three theological virtues: faith, hope & love and repentance. The miracles that Our Lady of Lombardsijde is said to have performed can be found in the stained glass windows of the side aisles.
Within the church is the miraculous statue "Our Lady, Star of the Sea." Folklore tells us how this statue was found by fishermen on the beach in 1596. It is not unlikely that the statue of Mary with child ended up in the sea as a result of the religious turmoil of the second half of the 16th century.
The fact is that the fishermen of Lombardsijde received it with great wonder and gratitude. To give the statue a suitable place, a Marian chapel was built in the dunes, where the fishermen would pray for safe sea voyages. Because the statue attracted a large crowd, it was decided to house it in the parish church.
The statue is made of polychrome wood, probably by a 16th-century Bruges artist. Next to the statue are replicas of fishing boats and other ex-votos, dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. They were offered to Mary by fishermen in gratitude for received favors such as safe return home, healing...
The population of Lombardsijde has always belonged to the working class, with residents primarily being farmers and fishermen. During the mid-Lent festivities (carnival), the people of Lombardsijde still commemorate their origins annually. The carnival parade here is called the Eselcavalcade. It portrays with donkeys how the former population transported their vegetable yields to the neighboring markets with the donkey. Documents from 1866 tell us that there were then 50 donkey farmers and only 2 horse farmers in Lombardsijde.

Toerisme Middelkerke