Great or St. Martin's Church

After the murder of Bonifatus and the 52 companions on 5 June 754, Dokkum became one of the European centres of the Boniface cult. From the 8th century onwards, veneration focused in close connection on the martyrdom, a spring and the memorial church where relics of the saint and his companions were kept. In the late Middle Ages, the tradition of the so-called stone loaves attached itself to Dokkum and Bonifatius and stone loaves were preserved, displayed and venerated in Dokkum. The cult and pilgrimage tradition has seen periods of decline and revitalization, as well as changing focal points and locations. Key periods are: the early and late Middle Ages up to ca. 1580, the second half of the 19th century and the 20th century (especially the twenties and thirties, the commemorative year 1954, and the years 1990-1994). In 1997, the processional park and the Boniface Chapel around the spring, which was located outside the city centre from the 19th century onwards, were fixed points of devotion and in the second place the parish church where the relics and the stone bread are kept.

Dromos