Explore Religious Heritage Across Europe

Just to the north east of Dokkum lies the mound village of Wetsens on the old road towards Metslawier. The mound of Wetsens was once the largest of Frysin. Only a small part of it now remains, with the St. Vitus church on top. The church was taken over on April 8, 2016 by the Alde Fryske Tsjerken Foundation.

The St. Vitus Church is a church from the thirteenth century. In the tower there is a clock from 1477, and in the church you can see a pulpit from the seventeenth century. There are beautifully carved gravestones in the floor.

The Sint Willibrordus Church in Holwerd is a special church. It has a remarkable L-shaped construction and a tower with a remarkably large tip. The church has a beautiful pulpit.

The Saint Anthony abbey church with an organ and cemetery in Wolfsdonk has been used for a variety of reason, from a pilgrimage site to a funerary pilot project.

The Saint Bavo Church was built in 959. It was originally founded by monks of the Saint Bavo's Abbey in Ghent (Belgium). The small church was replaced by a bigger Romanesque building due to the rise in population. The new church burned down in 1202. The current nave, transept, and tower were built in 1220 and the choir was extended during the 14th century. The building got gravely damaged during the Eighty Years' War and was restored in 1646. This date is mentioned on the building. The church suffered again during the Second World War. It took from 1947 until 1956 to rebuilt the church to its former glory.

The St Bernardus monastery is a former religious complex in the municipality of Hemiksem, in the south of Antwerp. The construction of the monastery began in 1243 by the Bernardines. In the Middle Ages, this abbey was one of the richest in Europe. After the French Revolution, the buildings served as a prison and as a storage place for the army. Today, the monastery buildings have been reused for several purposes. The town hall of Hemiksem and two museums, the Heem Museum and the Gilliot and Roelants Tegelmuseum, can be found here.

The St. Cornelius Church, as well as the surrounding cemetery and barrier wall has been protected as a special landscape by Royal Decree since 1942 and has been a monument since 1958.

The Sint-Germanuskerk was founded in the first half of the 12th century in the Romanesque style. However, the present appearance of the building owes much to the restorations and extensions carried out in the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the erection of the present central tower in 1555. Inside, the pipe organ, originally built in 1493, acquired its Baroque appearance between 1671 and 1673, when it was radically rebuilt by Jan Deeckens.

The Sint-Janskerk is also known as the 'Big Church'. The large Gothic building is 123 meters long and therefore the longest church building in The Netherlands. The building itself has a very long history, and it has been used as a church since the 15th century. The church is famous for its stained glass. The building is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, who is the patron saint of Gouda. Red and white, the symbolic colors of the saint, can also be found in the city's coat of arms.

The earliest mentions of a Saint George chapel, date from 1201. But the chapel wasn’t consecrated before 1304. Destroyed by the French at the end of the 18th century, the church was rebuilt in its neo-Gothic style in 1853.