Shed churches in Etten-Leur and Breda

The 30-kilometer long bike route pays attention to the barn churches and hiding churches in Etten-Leur and Breda.

The references to the barn and hiding churches are sometimes small and barely visible. In Breda, the former barn churches are still clearly visible.

A hiding church (actually a house church) is a church building that is not recognizable as such from the outside, used during the time of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands by Roman Catholics, Old Catholics, Remonstrants, Lutherans, and Anabaptists. Such hiding churches were found in large parts of the Netherlands. In cities, hiding churches were mainly located in houses and warehouses, while in the countryside, a church usually had the appearance of a barn and was therefore also called a barn church.

During the Reformation in the Netherlands, in the 1570s, the Calvinists came to power in large parts of the Netherlands. All churches were confiscated (in 1648), forcing Catholics and followers of other banned religions to seek refuge in hidden and illegal churches in existing buildings.
In 1798, at the beginning of the French period, the hiding church period officially came to an end. All religions were then equated before the law.