St Catherine's Cathedral, Utrecht

St. Catherine's Cathedral
Basic information
Location Utrecht, Netherlands
Geographic coordinates 52°05′15″N 5°07′27″E / 52.08750°N 5.12417°E
Affiliation Roman Catholic
Rite Latin Rite
Province Archdiocese of Utrecht
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Cathedral
Heritage designation Rijksmonument
Leadership Archbishop of Utrecht
Website De Kathedraal
Completed ca. 1550

St. Catherine's Cathedral, Utrecht, is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria situated in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

It was built as part of the Carmelite friary founded in 1456. After 1529, work on the building was continued by the Knights Hospitallers.

The large church was completed only in the middle of the 16th century. From 1580 to 1815 it was the home of a Protestant community. In 1815 it was returned to the Roman Catholics, first as a garrison church, then since 1842 as a parish church.

Since 1853 St. Catherine's Church has been the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Utrecht as St. Catherine's Cathedral, and is the Roman Catholic metropolitan church of the Netherlands. The former St. Martin's Cathedral remains the Protestant church. In 1898 architect Alfred Tepe began some major changes to the church. It was lengthened with the current western trave; the new facade was a copy of the old one which was possibly designed by Rombout Keldermans II. A tower, based on the tower of the town hall of Kampen, was added in 1900.

Some of the relics of Saint Willibrord, patron saint of the Benelux countries, are kept in the reliquary under the main altar.

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Catherine's Cathedral.
Dutch Rijksmonument 36264