Home
Up
The Choir
The Transept
The LanternTower
The Early Plans |
The base of the tower was built together
with the transept during the second building campaign in the second and
third quarters of the 13th century. The upper part of the building with
the high spire was not completed until the end of the 13th century. The
light and elegant construction with many openings, the instability of the
underground and repeated damage by lightening and storms caused serious
problems of stability. As early as the 14th century the four piers of the
towers had to be braced by a wall in heavy Tournai-stone. The first level
of the tower had to be bricked up and walls to fortify it were built at
regular intervals from then onwards.
The vault that had closed off the tower since 1658 was
removed during the restoration of the lantern town with its typical
incidence of light to its original state. Because the first contractor
went bankrupt the works were put off until August 1963. They were assigned
to Vandekerkhove NV, a company from Ingelmunster, which also restored the
transept and the choir.
One of the first measures was to apply a preliminary
reinforcement by means of five heavy steel belts round the shell of the
tower. During the actual restoration a very sophisticated technique was
used. |
Belts in prestressed concrete were applied at the levels + 24m , + 33m and
+ 44m. Each belt consisted of 71 concrete blocks and four corner blocks,
connected by means of 14 tension ropes of high-quality steel.
The four dilapidated turrets were completely renovated and the walls of
the tower's shell were restored. The windows at the second level of the
tower, which had been bricked up for centuries, were opened again and were
glazed. The original belfry window could be reconstructed thanks to
recovered fragments. The alterations of the spire corresponded with the
lowered form from after the 1674 storm. So the familiar outlines remained.
The restoration works of the tower were finished at the 31st of July 1967.
The lantern tower renders the entire church a refined touch, thanks to its
clear construction and neatly composed windows and belfry windows. Inside
it functions as a real lantern, illuminating the church with a favourable
indent of light. The lantern tower is very important for the history of
church architecture in our region. |
