Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula (French Cathédrale Saint-Michel et Gudule; ndl Sint- Michiels en Sint- Goedelekathedraal, . Often shortened to St. Gudule ) is the main church of the city of Brussels and the Archbishop of Mechelen -Brussels seat.
Was located at the site of the present cathedral on the Treurenberg already in the Carolingian period ( 8th century ), a baptistery dedicated to the Archangel Michael. With translation of the relics of the saints Gudula here in 1047, the patronage has been extended accordingly. The present building was begun in 1226 and completed at the end of the 15th century with the completion of the 69 -meter-high towers. With the elevation to the archbishopric in 1962 the church was officially named a cathedral. As a national Church of the Kingdom of Belgium often royal weddings, state funerals and other ceremonies take place in St. Gudula.
Architecture and Facilities
St. Gudula is built in the Gothic style. The returning partially to the 16th century stained glass in 1200 of the 16 stained glass windows create a bright, light-filled interior. There are twelve life-size figures of the apostles of Fay d' Herbe Luc and Jérôme Duquesnoy from the 17th century on the pillars of the nave. The Henri- Francois Verbruggen 1669 carved Baroque pulpit shows life-size vollplastisch the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. Near the high altar is the grave monument of Duke John II of Brabant. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel Chapelle du Saint- Sacrament and their equipment can be seen in the context of the Brussels sacrament miracle of 1370, is said to have begun in which a desecrated host to bleed abruptly.
Looking through the nave
Chapel
Statuary
North transept window
Chapel grid
Look into the vault
Organ
In the cathedral there is a two-manual choir organ and the large organ on the north wall of the nave.
The main organ was established in 2000 by the organ builder Gerhard Grenzing (El Papiol, Spain) built. It depends as a swallow's nest organ at the height of the triforium in the nave. The instrument has 63 stops on four manual and pedal works, which are housed in three organ sections: a central housing body houses the four manual divisions: at the top is the main work, with the principal 16 ' in the Prospectus; among which are the swellable solo work as well as the Spanish trumpets. Under the solo work is the gambling table. On this " level " there is enough space that even soloists can make music with the organist together immediately. Below the play equipment level is the church towards the Positif housed behind the Recit is housed expressif ( Swell ), the laterally radiating sound. The central organ body does not protrude more than 1 meter into the nave. The Recit expressif extends into the northern aisle. The central housing body is flanked by a much slimmer, and also less deep reaching into the nave organ bodies in which the pedal stops are located, respectively on two levels. The organ weighs about 30 tons, which are distributed by the tripartite division of the organ work on four pillars of the nave. The Spieltrakturen are mechanical, the Registertrakturen are electric. A special feature is that the Spieltrakturen the pedal assembly are mechanically in the two flanking lateral towers, which are suspended at a distance of 2 meters from the center housing. The tracker action extend horizontally from the center housing to the pedal towers. Since they are made of nylon rope, they are barely visible. The wind is (six wedge bellows ) produced by seven bellows.
- Couplers: I / II, III / II, IV / II, III / I, I / P, II / P III / P IV / P