Heritage

Of its ramparts from the 14th century this small city has kept a door flanked by a turret, the ‘Westerpoort’. Nearby is ‘Caesar’s tree’, an old yew to which, according to legend, the Roman emperor is supposed to have attached his horse.
The broad Gothic church of the covered market type, surmounted by a spire with crockets, has experienced various phases of construction. The south side wall of the central choir dates from 1221. In 1289, the central nave was constructed.
In the 15th century the side choirs, the south transept and the side naves were established in turn. Later, numerous transformations, as well as the enlargement of the church, followed.
In 1866, the Romanesque tower was replaced by a Neo-Gothic tower. This was dynamited in 1915, but rebuilt in 1923-1924 according to the original Neo-Gothic plans under the direction of the architect J. Cooremans.
The church shelters a major treasure of an unimaginable richness: a Baroque retable (1640), choir stalls of the Flemish Renaissance style (1626) attributed to Taillebert, numerous valuable paintings (17th to 19th century), baptismal fonts from the 17th century. Arms and tombstones refer to the former abbots and lords of Lo. The vicarage, the farm, the garden of the abbey all remind us of the importance of the abbey of the Augustinians in bygone days.

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