Village: The village Heusden is located
in East Flanders, and is part of the municipality of Destelbergen.
It is situated about five kilometers outside of the city of
Ghent, near the river Scheldt. The village was already mentioned
in texts before the invasion of the Normans in the 11th century,
by Abbot Othejbold, who stated that the town belonged to the
St. Bavo abbey. After that, Heusden came under the control
of the Viscounts of Ghent. The Cistercian Abbey of Nieuwenbosch,
founded in 1247, was known for miles around. The abbey was
destroyed in 1578 during the iconoclastic period.
Building: The Holy Cross Church was
built in 1844 on a site where a previous church had stood.
The style of the church is an example of early Gothic construction.
Two paintings of Anthony Van Den Heuvel, and two altars in
white and black marble, remain from the old church. The painting
on the main altar, representing the crucified Christ, was
painted in 1847 by Vanden Bossche Domien of Geraardsbergen,
who drew his inspiration from the famous painter Anthony van
Dyck.
God’s name: In a small brochure
available at the church, we read the history of the church
and also the following: "In the middle of the altar is
a wooden tabernacle designed as a medieval tower topped with
a pelican feeding its young. At the tabernacle door, we see
the four Hebrew characters JHWH (the tetragrammaton) ".
