Bareldon Chapel

Also called chapel of Our Lady of 7 Woes. Protected by Royal Decree of 25.07.1942. Planted diagonally on top of the southwestern flank of the sand hill known as the Kapelleberg. In front of the chapel is a meadow with ascending cobbled access road and a straight path bordered by young trees that leads from the chapel to the house of the provost of the Bareldonk chapel, located on the other side of the Donklaan (Uitbergen, Donklaan no. 121). To the northeast, next to the chapel, is the associated ommegang and Calvary erected in 1935 in the wooded part of the hill.
Devotional chapel formerly dedicated to Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ter-Groender-Straete, presumably referring to its location on the "Groene straat", which connected Berlare to Overmere via Bareldonk and to which the current Donklaan along the Donkmeer goes. Little is known with certainty about the history of the chapel. The chapel was located within the lordship of Bareldonk and would rise at least until the beginning of the 14th century. In 1959, old floor tiles were found in baked and glazed pottery with typical Flemish motifs that would date from around 1300-1310. The burial pits with human skeletal remains found under the choir in the same works contributed to the hypothesis that the initial chapel may have been erected by local lords, who owned the lordship of Bareldonk.
The oldest known lord of Bareldonk, Daneel van Berlaere, is already mentioned in the 13th century (see also Oude dreef no. 3). In the 15th century, Bareldonk passed into the hands of the de Mortagne family. The possible enlargement or reconstruction of the chapel in the 15th century, as cited in the literary sources, has not yet been confirmed by archival sources. In the 16th century, Anthony de Mortagne, lord of Bareldonk, mentioned that the chapel was founded by his ancestors. In 1585 there were reports of destruction during the religious turmoil. After restoration, the chapel was rededicated by Mgr. Triest, bishop of Ghent, in 1639. In 1652 the chapel was dedicated to Our Lady of 7 Woes and a walkway was erected with wooden chapels, hung on the walls of the chapel.
Between 1771 and 1774, when the lordship of Berlare and the smaller Bareldonk were (partly) in the hands of the vanden Meersche family, the chapel was rebuilt in rococo style. This may have been commissioned by Emmanuel-Augustijn vanden Meersche. The façade was modified, window openings changed, a new bell tower was installed, the interior was given a stucco ceiling and a small sacristy was added to the south side of the choir. In preserved accounts there is mention of payments in 1773 and in 1774 for works on the sacristy and chapel. Among other things, there was a delivery of 300 church pavements, renovations to the façade and windows, the delivery of a copper rooster with a sphere, the placement of a new altar, the delivery of a new clock by Jan Baptist Wierinck. Altar consecrated in 1774 by Monsignor Van Eersel, bishop of Ghent. In 1887 Bareldonk was recognized as provost, partly located on Berlare and partly on Uitbergen and with the Bareldonk chapel as a place of worship, depending on the Sint-Martinuskerk in Berlare.
At the end of the 19th century, the chapel inside was adapted in neo-Gothic style, among other things by painting, new furniture, placement of neo-Gothic stained glass windows. Major modifications to the interior took place in 1954-1956 and the following years, mainly by chaplain De Wolf, in which, among other things, the 19th-century neo-Gothic murals disappeared. Almost the entire furniture of the chapel was adapted or renewed. New decoration applied in a pseudo-rococo style. From the old furniture disappeared the pulpit, the confessional and the communion bench. The bell tower was also rebuilt at that time after the example of the old turret. In 1959 the sacristy was extended with a porch and in 1960 two new windows were installed in the choir. The exterior of the chapel was restored in 2003. In the last interior restoration (2007), the interior was greatly reduced by the removal of mainly added moldings and decorative elements from the decoration of the 1950s.
Now light yellow chalked chapel on picked plinth, built of sand-lime stone with the processing of bluestone for the frames of the wall openings and the finishing of the gable. Single-aisled chapel of three bays under gable roof (slates); choir of one bay with three-sided choir closure. Octagonal wooden roof rider in front of the choir, with spire with iron cross and gilded weathercock.
View of the current façade dating from 1774, as indicated in the year stones under the gable. Façade with swung in and out top on volutes, finished in bluestone, and crowning curved pediment with iron cross. Mirror-arched, wide doorway encased in a hard stone profiled frame on noses with seed beads in the swirls and as keystone, under curved water molding; new gullwing door with skylight. Above it a cross-arched window with metal rod division and stained glass, encased in a bluestone frame with water frame. Round wheel window in the gable. In the side facades three bluestone-framed arched windows with stained glass windows; delineating wooden cornice. In the north side façade there is an arched side door in a sandstone frame on neuten and with water frame. The choir is narrower and lower than the nave and has two arched windows with a hard stone frame and stained glass windows. Against the blind choir clasp hangs a calvary cross under a wooden canopy, the Christ statue has been removed. Sacristy built against the south side façade of nave and choir. Original part of two bays with barred rectangular window under half hipped roof. Added bay with framed door, under lower half hipped roof.
The interior of the chapel is plastered and painted white. The floor of the nave is covered with square tiles in bluestone and limestone, which are laid in a geometric pattern. The floor in the choir consists of white and black marble tiles. Bay layout rhythmed by pilasters with frame capital and rocaille ornament, on high bluestone plinth added during the last restoration. Beech with curved vaulting articulated by girdle arches with floral stucco motifs, and with cross ribs also decorated with floral motifs. Choir under cross rib vaults. Round arch between the nave and the choir. In the choir a credentienis is preserved with Gothic pointed arch shape. Wooden rood screen from the 18th century with beautiful handrail and resting on two round wooden columns, on the west side. Stained glass windows in the choir with monograms made by J. Van Geffen, dated 1960. Stained glass windows in the nave with geometric patterns and the inscriptions: "Dono dedit Sidonia De Smet 1897", "Dono dedit Julia Moerenhout", "Dono dedit Mathilda vander Cruyssen 1897", "dono dedit Aemilius Stockman prep. 1896". Stained glass window above the rood screen of 1963.
Mobilair. Painting depicting the Annunciation to Mary in the altarpiece with the donor's coat of arms and the painter's monogram: A.B.S.Q, from the 18th century. Sculpture. Polychrome wooden statues of Saint Anthony, Saint Roch, Saint John and Saint Eligius. Dressed wooden statue of Our Lady with Child, probably from the 18th century. Originally polychrome plaster stations of the cross scenes in relief, painted white in the 1950s and provided with new frames. Furniture. Main altar: wooden portico altar in Louis XV style from around 1774 with a representation of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove between two angels with a sun and moon at the top. Altar table with a Marian monogram in bas-relief in the center; Wooden altar formerly with marble painting, repeatedly painted over. Confessional from the 18th century, with sculptural elements with angel figures and Renaissance-style masks from the old pulpit.

Stichting Open Kerken