St. Joseph Church is the largest

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parish church still in use in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

in the diocese of Rotterdam. It is also called the ''Herensingelkerk'', because it is situated at the street called ''Herensingel''. The church is a

national heritage site A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage registe ...

and one of the tallest buildings in the centre of Leiden.

History

The church was built in 1925 and designed by the architects Leo and Jan van der Laan in an

expressionistic Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

style related to the New Hague School. In 1934 the nearby

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

Church in Leiden was closed and merged with the St. Joseph. From that moment the church is officially named ''Our Lady Assumption and Saint Joseph''.

Building

The

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 ...

is relatively wide with the purpose to give al participants a clear view on the altar. The narrow

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s show

stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...

painted in 1943 by Wijnand Geraedts which also include an extra scene with the

Ascension of Jesus The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate la, ascensio Iesu, lit=ascent of Jesus) is the Christian teaching that Christ physically departed from Earth by rising to Heaven, in the presence of eleven of his apostles. According to the N ...

. The

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

is dominated by a fresco painted in 1931 by Alex Asperslagh in

Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...

style, depicting the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

. The pneumatic organ is from 1929 by Valckx & Van Kouteren. The wooden altar contains relics of

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

and the

martyrs of Gorkum The Martyrs of Gorkum ( nl, Martelaren van Gorcum) were a group of 19 Dutch Catholic clerics, secular and religious, who were hanged on 9 July 1572 in the town of Brielle by militant Dutch Calvinists during the 16th-century religious wars—sp ...

. The left chapel is dedicated to

Padre Pio Francesco Forgione, OFM Cap., better known as Padre Pio and as Saint Pius of Pietrelcina ( it, Pio da Pietrelcina; 25 May 188723 September 1968), was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a s ...

and contains a statue of his.

Interior

Overzicht schip, Sint-Josephkerk Leiden.JPG, Nave and apse Altaar St Josephkerk Leiden.JPG, Altar and apse Kruisweg Sint-Jospehkerk Leiden - Detail - Verrijzenis.jpg, Stations of the Cross Pater Pio kapel, Sint-Josephkerk Leiden.JPG, Padre Pio chapel

References

External links

* {{Catholic Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands St. Josephkerk Tourist attractions in South Holland Rijksmonuments in Leiden Expressionist architecture Roman Catholic churches in the Netherlands