Saint Audomarus Church Adinkerke

The Sint-Audomarus Church of Adinkerke is the mother church of the other two parish churches of De Panne. It is characteristic of the area between dunes and polders. It has a tradition of 900 years, during which it has experienced various highs and lows.
The first Romanesque church of the fishing and farming village ‘Oyenkerke’ was consecrated in 1120 by the blessed John of Waasten, Bishop of Terwaan in present-day French Flanders, to whose diocese our Westhoek belonged at that time.
The church was destroyed several times: in 1580, 1644, 1657, and 1793. The current neo-Gothic hall church with an apse in yellow brick dates from 1856 and was restored in 1973. In September 1990, the church was 'Church of the Month' of the diocese of Bruges and received a new facelift, so today it possesses both the nobility of age and the freshness of youth.
The Flemish hall church consists of three naves of approximately the same width and height, which is clearly visible from the apse side. Traditionally, the apse of a church is oriented towards the East, where the light rises every morning. It is a symbol of Christ, who calls himself “the light of the world” (John 8:12).
More about the hall church: see at kerknet/toerisme – Getting to know a church – Architecture.
The partly Romanesque and Gothic western tower has only a short pyramidal spire. At the top, the tower is finished with a metal railing. In the early Middle Ages, the most tower of the castle was the symbol of the power and protective mission of the landowner. The Romanesque church tower refers to the power and protection of the Lord of lords.
Characteristic of this tower are the uninterrupted buttresses that rise diagonally against the front wall up to the bell house. The other tower walls do not have those, as the low tower is built between the three naves. The sober tower wall is only broken by a Gothic arch above the entrance and some weathered ledges at the bell house with two sound holes.
Against the right aisle hangs a indulgence cross. The text states that Mgr. Joannes-Jozef Faict, Bishop of Bruges (1864-1894), grants forty days to those who pray five Our Fathers and Hail Marys at that cross in honor of the five wounds and the precious blood of Jesus Christ. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1995), indulgence is a remission before God of temporal punishments for sins that have already been forgiven with respect to guilt. The Church, as the administrator of salvation, can dispense and apply the treasure of satisfactions of Christ and the saints. In earlier times, believers made what we now see as an excessive use of indulgences. The authentic crucifix was brought inside the church and replaced here by a copy.
The foundation of the tower and parts of the western building are remnants of the Romanesque church of 1120.
The Romanesque church was constructed of brown ironstone.
The interior, aided by the white painting, gives a feeling of light and space. In a hall church, the central nave does not have light divisions, so light only comes in through the large windows of the side aisles.

Windekind