Nieuwstadt (L): St.
Johannes de Doper
In the 13th century an originally
Romanesque church was rebuilt in a style that marks the transition from
Romanesque to Gothic. While the clerestory has Romanesque details and
round windows, the side-aisles have windows that in detail are close to
Gothicism while their shape is closer to Romanesque. The eastern traves
of the side-aisles had been transformed into chapels and have gables.
These parts of the church are the closest to actual Gothicism. A choir
was added shortly after, and strangely was built slightly angled on the
axis of the nave. The church must have had a tower sometime, but after
the destruction of the town in 1398 little of it was left.
In 1862 P.J.H.
Cuypers started making the plans for the restoration of the church.
The restoration itself did not start until 1880. Cuypers wanted to
raise the walls of the choir as well as to add a tower, but these parts
of his plan were not executed. Cuypers only managed to add a
neo-Romanesque porch to the remaining lower part of the original tower.
Because there are no pictures available of what the church looked like
before the restoration, it is unknown to what extent the side-aisles
are still original or where built under, or even designed by, Cuypers.
After 1899 he added a sacristy to the south-side.
Between 1927 and 1933 the church was again restored, this time by Jos
Wielders. He replaced the stump of the tower with Cuypers' porch by an
extra, lower trave for the nave, lengthened the side-aisles and added a
tower in moderate Expressionistic style, similar to some of his other
towers. After the church had been badly damaged in 1944 the pre-war
situation was restored. During all of the church's history marl has
been used for its construction.
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