The Protestant church of Oentsjerk or Saint Mary churchAlle middeleeuwse kerken: van Harlingen tot Wilhelmshaven, P Karstkarel, p. 225 is a medieval religious building in

Oentsjerk Oentsjerk ( nl, Oenkerk) is a village in Tytsjerksteradiel in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 1,784 in January 2017. Oentsjerk is known for its agricultural practical training centre and large elderly care ...

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

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 ...

. The church was built c. 1230 out of red

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and has a tower from the 14th century. On the West gallery is a monumental

Pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

, built in 1871 by P. van Oeckelen The church was originally a Roman Catholic church dedicated to

Saint Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

but became a Protestant church after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. It is listed as 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 ...

, number 35658. The building is located on the Wijnserdijk 9.

References

{{Medieval churches in Tytsjerksteradiel Tytsjerksteradiel Oenstjerk Romanesque architecture in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Friesland Protestant churches in the Netherlands