The Church of Saint Quentin (french: Église Saint-Quentin de Tournai) is a Roman catholic parish church in Tournai, Belgium. The largely Romanesque building is located on the main square of the town, the ''

Grand-Place The Grand-Place (French, ; "Grand Square"; also used in English) or Grote Markt (Dutch, ; "Big Market") is the central square of Brussels, Belgium. It is surrounded by opulent Baroque guildhalls of the former Guilds of Brussels and two larger ...

''. Known to have existed since the 10th century, the current building was built around 1200, but has been altered several times throughout history. In the late 15th century, a major reconstruction effort altered the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

, created an

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

and replaced earlier side chapels. This reconstruction was partially financed by

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

maker Pasquier Grenier and his wife Marguerite de Lannoye, who were also buried in one of the chapels. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the church was heavily damaged by German bombing in 1940 and subsequently reconstructed after the war. It opened again in 1968. The current facade and tower are reconstructions from this period. Inside, the church contains two Late Gothic wooden sculptures, made by Jean Delemer and painted by

Robert Campin Robert Campin (c. 1375 – 26 April 1444), now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych, before the discovery of three other similar panels), was the first great master of Early Netherlandish paint ...

and dated to 1428. They are of art historical interest as early examples of such Late Gothic sculpture.

History

The church is mentioned for the first time in written sources during the 10th century. It is located at the far end of the ''

'', where a large Gallo-Roman cemetery was once located. The current building dates from 1200, and was built in a Romanesque style. It originally consisted of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

and a

with four side chapels. The lowest windows were set in deep arcades, while the windows higher up were incorporated into a gallery running around the entire church facade. In the first building, only some of the chapels were

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

. The church has however been altered several times. Already in the 13th century, the chancel and the transept arms were vaulted. In the 1460s, the chancel was remade. The side chapels were changed into an

with three projecting chapels. The chancel was separated from the ambulatory by arcades. This reconstruction, made in a

Flamboyant Gothic Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...

style, was partially financed by the wealthy

maker Pasquier Grenier and his wife Marguerite de Lannoye, who were also buried in the central chapel. Among the

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s that decorate the chapel vaults, their

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

can still be discerned. Grenier also donated seven tapestries to the church, displaying the seven sacraments. They were later dispersed and entered the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London and the

Burrell Collection The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum reopened on 29 March 2022 with free entry, having been closed for ...

, Glasgow. Further changes were made to the church during the 19th century, by architect . In the early 20th century restoration works were carried out by architects and François Ladavid. During

, the church was heavily damaged by German bombing in 1940. Restoration works continued until 1968, when the church was again opened for service.

Description

The current facade is a reconstruction from the 1960s. Inside, a nave four bays long ends in a large crossing, supporting a square tower which the medieval building probably never had; it is also from the 1960s. The chancel, described above, is two bays long, and the transept arms also consist of two bays of unequal length. With the exception of the nave and the crossing, the entire church has rib vaults. The church contains two wooden sculptures depicting the Annunciation made by Jean Delemer and painted by

. They were made in 1428, while the colours and the heads of the sculptures have been restored in more recent times. The group, which shows clear influences from contemporary painting, is significant as "the earliest example of the Late Gothic style that was to dominate the sculpture of the Netherlands and most of Europe for the following century." They were originally made for another church in Tournai, dedicated to Saint Peter, but since 2010 they have been displayed in Saint Quentin.

References

{{Authority control 11th-century establishments in Belgium 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Belgium Churches in Hainaut (province) Romanesque architecture in Belgium Tournai