The Munsterkerk (''Munster'') is a 13th-century church dedicated to Our Lady in the Dutch town of

Roermond Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Roer ...

. Its remarkable front towers are 55 meter in height. The Munsterkerk is one of the most important examples of Late Romanesque architecture in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

.Roermond (L): Munsterkerk
/ref> The Roermond Minster is the only surviving part of an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

, the rest of which was demolished in 1924. The church was renovated by architect P. J. H. Cuypers between 1863 and 1890; during this renovation, the two front towers were added while after a smaller

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

bell tower on the nave was removed, and the originally octagonal eastern towers were replaced by square ones. The renovation of the Roermond Minster was highly controversial, but Cuypers continued to renovate the Minster according to his plan. In 1992, the church was damaged by an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

which destroyed the two eastern towers, which were rebuilt shortly after. The church is a

Rijksmonument A rijksmonument (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands ...

, and is part of the

Top 100 Dutch heritage sites The Top 100 Dutch heritage sites is a list of rijksmonuments in the Netherlands, established in 1990 by the Department for Conservation ( Monumentenzorg, today the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed). The Top 100 was a selection of historical ...

Burials

Richardis of Bavaria Richardis of Bavaria (1173 – 7 December 1231) was a German noblewoman. She was a daughter of Count Palatine Otto I of Bavaria, who later became the first Wittelsbach ''Duke'' of Bavaria, and his wife Agnes of Loon. Richardis married Otto ...

Gerard III, Count of Guelders Gerard III of Guelders (1185 – 22 October 1229) was the Count of Guelders and Zutphen from 1207 until his death in 1229. He was a son of Count Otto I of Guelders, and is sometimes called Gerard IV or Gerard V. Gerard married Margaretha of ...

*his wife, Margaretha of Brabant

Notes

External links

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130 pictures of the church
Churches in Limburg (Netherlands) Rijksmonuments in Limburg Towers in Limburg (Netherlands) Buildings and structures in Roermond Burial sites of the House of Wassenberg {{Netherlands-church-stub