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Mechelen - Kerk van Sint-Jan de Doper en Sint-Jan Evangelist

City: the Internet site of the city of Mechelen says: "The oldest preserved document, which mentions Mechelen for the first time under the name Machlines, is a certificate of appreciation from 1008. The name of the city was later changed to Machele, then Mechgelme and finally in the 15th century to Mechelen. For a short period of time, in the 16th century, Mechelen was the capital of the Netherlands. The city later received the same status as Zeeland, Brabant, Flanders and Holland. Not surprisingly, therefore, there are so many fine protected historic monuments and churches. " The city of Mechelen, located in the province of Antwerp, is situated between the towns of Antwerp and Brussels. The city numbers today more than 80,000 inhabitants.

Building: in the 13th century there was a chapel here dedicated to John the Baptist. This chapel was elevated to church in the same century. In the 14th century, a choir hall, a transept and aisles were added. The present church was built between 1443 and 1483. During the religious wars the interior was looted and the church was even used as barracks for the troops of the Iron Duke Alva.

Object: several paintings decorate the church. On the high altar is a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, "the adoration of the Kings". Rubens himself came in to retouch it. Other paintings are hanging on the walls of the choir hall. These paintings were created by Gaspard de Crayer (1584-1669), Lucas II Franchoys (1616-1681) and Karel Wauters (1811-1869). On one of the paintings we can see God's name, placed in a triangle.

 

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