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Saint Bavo Cathedral

 
Saint Bavo Cathedral

 
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Saint Bavo Cathedral
 
 
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The Saint Bavo Cathedral (also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral, or the Dutch Sint Baafskathedraal) is the seat of the diocese of Ghent. It is named for Saint Bavo
Saint Bavo

Saint Bavo of Ghent, , is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint....
 of Ghent
Ghent

Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region, Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys River and became in the Middle Ages one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe....
.

The building is based upon the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, a primarily wooden construction; it was consecrated in 942 by Transmarus, Bishop of Tournai and Noyon. Traces of this original structure are evident in the cathedral's crypt.

The chapel was subsequently expanded in the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
 style in 1038.






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The Saint Bavo Cathedral (also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral, or the Dutch Sint Baafskathedraal) is the seat of the diocese of Ghent. It is named for Saint Bavo
Saint Bavo

Saint Bavo of Ghent, , is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint....
 of Ghent
Ghent

Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region, Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys River and became in the Middle Ages one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe....
.

The building is based upon the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, a primarily wooden construction; it was consecrated in 942 by Transmarus, Bishop of Tournai and Noyon. Traces of this original structure are evident in the cathedral's crypt.

The chapel was subsequently expanded in the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
 style in 1038. Some traces of this phase of expansion are still evident in the present day crypt.

In the subsequent period from the 14th through 16th centuries, nearly continuous expansion projects in the Gothic
Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
 style were executed on the structure. A new choir, radiating chapels, expansions of the transepts, a Chapterhouse, nave aisles and a single tower western section were all added during this period. Construction was considered complete June 7, 1569.

In 1539, as a result of the rebellion against Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
, the old Abbey of St. Bavo was dissolved. Its abbot and monks went on to become canons in a Chapter that was attached to what then became the Church of Saint Bavo. When the Diocese of Ghent was founded in 1559, the church became its Cathedral
Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
. The church of Saint Bavo was also the site of the baptism of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
.

Art Work


The cathedral is noted for the Ghent Altarpiece
Ghent Altarpiece

The Ghent Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb is a very large and complex Early Netherlandish painting polyptych panel painting which was once in the Joost Vijdt chapel at Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, but was later moved for security reasons to the chapel of the cathedral....
, originally in its Joost Vijd chapel. It is formally known as: "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" by Hubert
Hubert van Eyck

Hubert van Eyck was a Flemings Painting and older brother of Jan van Eyck.The date of his birth and the records of his progress are lost amidst the ruins of the earlier civilization of the valley of the Meuse River....
 and Jan
Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck or Johannes de Eyck was an Early Netherlandish painting active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
 van Eyck
Van Eyck

Van Eyck , also Van Eijk is a Dutch language surname meaning "of Eyck" or "of Eijk" . Several important families and persons had this surname:...
. This work is considered Van Eyck's masterpiece and one of the most important works of the early Northern Renaissance.

The cathedral is home to the work of another artist of note: "Saint Bavo enters the Convent at Ghent" by Peter Paul Rubens
Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality....
.

Burials

  • Karl vanden Bosch, Bishop of Ghent
  • Karl-Justus Calewaert (1893-1963), 27th Bishop of Ghent (1948-1963).
  • Prince Ferdinand Marie de Lobkowitz (1726-1795) Bishop of Ghent, 1779-1795.
  • Jan de Smet, Bishop of Ghent
  • Jan van de Velde (1779-1838), 20th Bishop of Ghent.
  • Gerard van Eersel (d. 1778), Bishop of Ghent
  • Ignaz Augustus Schetz van Grobbendonck (1625-1680), 11th Bishop of Ghent (1679-1680)


See also

  • Bishop of Ghent
    Bishop of Ghent

    ||-||-||-||-||-||-||}The Bishop of Ghent is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ghent, which comprises the entire province of East Flanders as well as the Antwerp municipalities of Zwijndrecht and Burcht....


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