The old Misbour church

The old Misbour church

With its side aisles marked by large pillars and its typology featuring three naves, the structure of the current church is unlikely to be older than the 11th century.

Numerous legends surround with a mysterious halo the uncertain origin of this sanctuary; popular tradition regards it as the primitive church that the surrounding villages shared, although no historical element can confirm this claim; rather, Martelange is considered by historians to be the center of a very extensive parish domain stretching across two dioceses (Trier and Liège); Fauvillers (1184) and Warnach (1279) are daughter churches that originally depended on the mother church of Martelange.

Historically, the site of Misbour is known for its annual fair known as the "Bizeux" (fabric fair) which only disappeared in 1659 after a fire destroyed the site; the hermitage and the fair were subsequently moved to the Rulles forest southeast of Mellier.

The sanctuary was therefore an integral part of a marketplace associated with other constructions and was linked to the road network from Carignan to Northern Germany. As in many other places, the religious factor may have attracted trade.

Could the mere proximity of the fair explain the construction, while maintaining a dispersed habitat also remains problematic? Or was there a desire to Christianize a place previously dedicated to pagan worship? It cannot be ruled out, as Professor Yante notes, that the building from the 11th century is the successor of an older oratory, Merovingian or not, at the same location or in more or less direct proximity, or that it is the result of a transformation of it.

Christ of Misbour

Partially gilded relief copper plate; The trace of perforations at the upper edges of the plate shows that it was attached with small nails to a wooden support, perhaps a soul of a reliquary (IX - XI century?)

Photo of the head of Christ preserved in the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels (Cinquantenaire)

Translated from French

Source: information panel at the church

Eddy&Rita