Skipper's Church

In 1936, a school for skippers' children was built at the mountain harbour on the Juliana Canal. In 1944 an emergency church was set up in the harbour in the ship Medea and this gave rise to the idea for the Skipper's Church, built by architect Th. L. Oberndorff. It was consecrated in December 1949 by Bishop Lemmens, ad salutem navigantium: for the salvation of the sailors, as the first stone at the entrance states. It was a multifunctional space, which from 1956 to 1969 temporarily housed a boarding school for bargee children. In 1969 a separate boarding school building was built, the current Havenstube.

The church was withdrawn from worship in 1999. However, apart from the architecture, a stained-glass window by Varpu Spronken-Tikanoja depicting the water procession, as it was held in the harbour in the 1950s, reminds us of the religious function. The Knops-Heffels family acquired the church and established a flower arranging workshop there. In 2012, artist Marieke Russel and her husband Pierre Coumans bought the church, moved into the rectory and turned the Schipperskerk into a gallery and a stage for creative activities.

Tourist Board South Limburg (Visit Zuid-Limburg)