Old church: search for the chapel behind the house on Kapelstraat!

Those who had high expectations of seeing much of the old church will be disappointed. You have to pay close attention not to walk past it. Well hidden in a garden, we see something that resembles a chapel where old gravestones were embedded. The images of Mary with a scepter and crown as Queen of Earth and Heaven and a crucified Christ would be interesting. But, well, you don’t get that far.

The church of Rummen was served by the Norbertines of Averbode. Abbot Arnold of Tudel (1368) visited the church and spoke of paintings on the walls. In 1640, it would be ordered - probably under pressure from the Counter-Reformation - to remove those murals.

In July 1741, a fire broke out in the chimney of the nearby inn (brewery). The wind carried the flames to the nearby houses. According to the description of the disaster, 18 houses were reduced to ashes in half an hour. A woman and a child aged 5 to 6 lost their lives. A few decades later, a new church was built higher up in the village, the current St. Ambrose Church.

In 1759, the clergy relinquished the cemetery and the remains of the choir. Apparently, there were quite a few 17th-century stone grave markers in the cemetery. This cannot be considered as so common since usually a stone cross was too expensive for an ordinary villager. Probably, the stone grave markers were from affluent residents. Some of those old stone crosses were repurposed for the construction of a path to the new church. But you can’t notice that anymore either.

Jan Rymenams