St. Rumbolds Cathedral

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St. Rumbolds Cathedral towering over the market square

Mechelen, the St. Rumbold tower, drawing by Léon van Dievoet, 1934.

St. Rumbolds Cathedral is the archbishopric cathedral of Mechelen in Belgium.

1 St. Rumbolds Tower
2 St. Rumbolds Cathedral's nave, crossing & transepts, quire & apse
3 History
4 External links
5 References

[edit] St. Rumbolds Tower

The flat-topped silhouette of the cathedral's tower is easily recognizable and dominates the surroundings. The original design called for a 77-meter spire, but only 7 meters of it were ever actually built, hence the unusual shape. Despite its characteristic incompleteness, this World Heritage monument_^[1] is 97.28 metres high and has 514 stairs which are visited by thousands of tourists every year, following the footsteps of Louis XV, Napoleon, and King Albert I.

Of the original carillon's set of 49 bells, which are still in working order, each has its own name. Some of the most notable are Salvator, which weighs 8884 kilograms; Jehsus, which was built in 1460; and the Liberation, which was the newest addition in 1947. Thirty-nine steps above this instrument, there is a second complete carillon on which concerts are played during the summer months. The total weight of both these carillons is over 80 tonnes and there are 98 bells in all.

[edit] St. Rumbolds Cathedral's nave, crossing & transepts, quire & apse

From the main entrance, one walks underneath the tower into the nave of the approximately 118 metres long cathedral.

The architecturally important Keldermans' Brabantine gothic_^[2] St. Rumbolds with its Baroque quire and main altar (Lucas Faydherbe), holds most noteworthy paintings (Sir Anthony van Dyck,...), sculptures (Faydherbe, Michiel Vervoort,...), and stained-glass windows._^[3]

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[edit] History

The cathedral was built in honor of Saint Rombout (Rumbold), a seventh century Irish missionary, and it is rumored that his remains are buried inside the cathedral. State-of-the-art examination of the relics assumed to be St. Rumbold's, showed a death date between 580 and 655, while tradition had claimed 775. Twenty-five paintings in the choir illustrate the life of the saint. The construction was started shortly after 1200, and during the final phase in 1452-1520, the tower of the cathedral itself was constructed.