Chapel VTI Ypres - Lourdes Chapel / Cats Chapel

In the Ypres village of Elverdinge, the students built a new Lourdes chapel on Sint-Livinusstraat. The chapel, commonly known as Cats chapel, was closed in 2000 due to dilapidation. A year later, the VTI had a new chapel ready. “My husband's brother made new stained glass windows, among other things based on drawings from the third kindergarten of the local primary school,” says Christa Ryckeboer, a neighbor of the chapel (no relation to Chris, ed.). “I open the chapel daily, after I inherited the key from another neighbor who passed away.” “Several local residents help with the maintenance of the site: weeding, mowing the grass, trimming the hedge...,” says Christa. “The chapel is temporarily closed again because, after all these years, stones have come loose. Many people find that a pity: they still like to come and light a candle or reflect for a moment. The VTI has promised to carry out repair work. Sometimes I still meet former students who talk to me about the earlier buildings. They are still proud of ‘their’ chapel.”

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