Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of Saint Bavo with an exorbitantly high Gothic bell tower is very popular among tourists, because it is here, to the left of the entrance, in one of the chapels that the famous Ghent Altarpiece is kept, consisting of 20 paintings by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck. In addition to the Ghent Altarpiece, there are 21 other altars in the cathedral.
St. Bavo's Cathedral can be called a treasury, where sacred works of art are collected. The oldest of them are dated by the 8th century, the newest - by the 90s of the 20th century. The most remarkable painting by Rubens, which depicts the patron saint of this temple. The Rococo pulpit was created in 1745 by Lauren Delvaux.
The building of the temple, in which Emperor Charles V will be baptized in the future, was built on the site of the old chapel of John the Baptist, consecrated in the first half of the 10th century. No trace of it remained. In the middle of the 12th century, a cross-shaped Romanesque church dedicated to the same saint appeared here. Remains of this structure - walls richly decorated with frescoes - can be seen in the crypt of the existing temple.
Finally, a Gothic sacral building was erected on the site of the Romanesque church. Its construction took place in three stages. At the beginning of the 14th century, choirs appeared in the Gothic style. Then, at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries, the western tower 82 meters high was erected. In 1602, lightning struck the wooden dome of the tower, which set it on fire. It was never restored. In 1553 the nave, transept and 8 side chapels were built. In 1559 (or according to other sources - in 1561) the church received the status of a cathedral. The temple received a new patron Saint Bavo a little later.
