The church ruins of the Sint-Michielskerk in Westmeerbeek

The church of St. Michael is worth a detour. The current church dates from 1939 and is at right angles to the late Gothic, ruined church from the 15th century. The tower of this original church was integrated into the new church. The old church was a pseudobasilical cross church of baking and iron sandstone. What remains are the facades and the iron sandstone pillars with pointed arches. Iron sandstone was only used for the substructure of the walls, the wall bands and the frames. The austere brick west tower looks beautiful with the constricted, slate needle spire and the pointed gallows holes.
The current church was designed by the Antwerp architect Jozef Ritzen (1886-1961). Ritzen was an early modernist architect and you can see that in his oeuvre of religious buildings. The present church is a brick building with sober volumes and a stylized interpretation of Gothic elements such as the pointed arch windows and door, the buttresses and the connecting flying buttresses outside the building.
At the church ruins we can still see some tombstones as silent witnesses of the former cemetery.

Jan Rymenams