Left wing O.L.V.-ter-Duinenkerk

The church of Saint Idesbald, the Our Lady of the Dunes Church, is located at the Church Square of Koksijde-Bad. It was protected as a monument in 2005.

The church building is designed on a kidney-shaped ground plan. The architect based his design on the cockle or heart shell, a shellfish with a fan-shaped shell that occurs in the North Sea and gave Koksijde its name. This parish church - designed by the Bruges architect Jozef Lantsoght - was built between 1959 and 1964 and is named after the nearby Ter Duinen Abbey. Thanks to the progressive use of steel and concrete, an open space without pillars was created, where light flows in abundantly and always varies. Due to the original design, in this 'cathedral of light' no one is more than 40 meters from the altar, directing attention to the central choir. The monumental façade already reveals the semi-circular shape of the building, which looks like a gigantic tent pitched in the dune landscape. The concrete and brick construction has the color of sand and the blue roof evokes the wave action of the sea. Two inclined spires rise from the ridge, crowned by a copper globe with a cross. In the notch between the spires, we see a bell tower with three bells. The portal, whose ceiling seems to be supported by a garland of light, is shaped like a semicircular building. It forms a somber transition between the noisy outside world and the silence of the church space. The space is conceived in the spirit of the liturgical renewal of the Second Vatican Council.

Erfgoed Vlaanderen