Church Den Andel
This church is located in an elongated village, originally founded in the 13th century on two adjacent dikes. In 1989, a demolition permit was applied for and, fortunately, refused. T
About this building
The interior, with its pointed dome vaults has beautiful, 13th century vault paintings. The wall pillars supporting the vaults were cut off in the 17th century to make room for benches: as a result, draw beams became necessary.
The church was restored at the end of the last century. The draw beams were then also removed. Today the church is owned by the Oude Groninger Church, but is rented by the Protestant municipality of Halfambt. This provides the weekly church services.
The organ was built in 1879 by P. van Oekelen and sons. Like other organ builders such as Schnitger and Van Dam, Van Oeckelen has a tradition of different generations of the family continuing the family business of being organ builders. The 1st generation was Cornelis van Oeckelen (1762-1837), who worked in Breda as a clockmaker and organ maker. The 2nd generation was Petrus van Oekelen (1792-1878). Born in Breda, he moved to Groningen in 1810 where he became carillonneur of the Martini Tower. The next generation was Cornelis Aldegundis and Antonius van Oeckelen, who were the sons of Peter and continued the business. With the death of Antonius in 1915 the company stopped.
