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Church of St. Christopher
Charleroi and surrounding
Architecture,  Temples, Churches
Architecture, 
Temples, Churches

The inhabitants of Charleroi are very fond of their basilica (as they call the Church of St. Christopher), although the same can not be said about the Vatican. The heads of the Catholic Church continue to doubt the existence of St. Christopher. They even removed St. Christopher's day from the common calendar. Moreover, St. Christopher is always depicted with a dog's head, which is yet another reason for that for the Vatican.

The church did not always bear the name of St. Christopher. Once, at the end of the 17th century, it was just a garrison chapel, built by the French in honor of St. Louis. In the 18th century, the Spaniards took the lead. They rebuilt the chapel (one stone remained from it) into a large church and named it after St. Christopher, the saint especially revered by the Spaniards. Previously, he was the patron saint of sea travelers, and today – of drivers, machinists, taxi drivers, and, for some reason, bachelors.

From the 18th-century church, only the choir (the wall behind the altar) and part of the nave remained. The most global reconstruction took place in the middle of the 19th century, as a result of which the church got its current Baroque facade and a copper-covered dome. The last time the church was rebuilt was in the middle of the 20th century.

Now its interior looks quite modern. From above, the church has a form of a cross: one half is from the 18th-century building, and the other is modern. The new choir contains a mosaic of 200 square meters depicting images from the Apocalypse of John. It is said to include millions of pieces fixed on gilded sheets and to be made by Venetian craftsmen in the 50s of the 20th century. Also, the modern part is adorned by colored stained glass windows depicting Bible scenes, wall frescoes with the Beatitudes, an organ restored at the beginning of the 21st century. Moreover, the glass altar casts a shadow similar to two angel wings, and the face of Jesus on the cross has non-canonical features.

The Church of St. Christopher is an unspoken monument to the victims of the Rexist Party. It was the Belgian fascist party operating during the Second World War: a few days before the liberation of the city in 1944, they killed twenty hostages supporting the Allied Forces and General de Gaulle.

Address: Charles II square

Published by

Praskovia Ko

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