Theatre Church Bemmel

Theaterkerk Bemmel is a theatre in Bemmel, Gelderland. The theatre was established in 2016 in the former Roman Catholic Saint Donatus Church.

The Catholics in Bemmel churched in the St. Benignus Church; originally a Romanesque church that was built around 1200. The church contains 16th century murals by director Joost van Bemmel and his wife Anna Vaec. With the Reformation and the rise of Protestantism in the Netherlands, it was forbidden to hold Catholic services, the church then came into the hands of the Protestants. The Bemmel Catholics visited the churches in Huissen and Hulhuizen, at that time German enclaves where religious freedom applied. After the Batavian revolution in 1795, the Catholics were allowed to hold their services in the Netherlands again. The Bemmel Catholics did not get their old church back. They set up a barn as an emergency church and built a new church on dorpsstraat in 1803. The building was expanded in 1842 and equipped with a roof rider.

St. Donatus Church was withdrawn from worship in November 2015.
In December 2015, the building was transferred to the SKB (Stichting Kerk Bemmel).
The church has been converted into a Theaterkerk, so that this striking building will continue to occupy a central place in the village and the community of Bemmel.
The altar, the canon's bench, the God's lamp, the wooden statue of Mary and the bell have been given a prominent place in the Eucharistic Center.

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