Abbey Church of Averbode

Marc Ryckaert (CC Wikimedia)

Abdijstraat 1, Scherpenheuvel

Altaar gewijd aan de heilige Norbertus van Pieter Scheemaeckers en Jan Erasmus Quellinus

KIK-IRPA

Looking for artistic reflection surrounded by nature? The wooded surroundings of the Merode and Hageland regions will lead you to the abbey church of Averbode in all its architectural splendour.

Abbey Church of Averbode

Averbode Abbey is a unique historical site. A Premonstratensian community has been based here since 1134. The forecourt is truly impressive and the reflections on the pond provide an opportunity for spectacular photographs when the sun is out. The abbey church, an ideal location for reflection, offers an unusual synthesis of Baroque and Gothic styles. The author Ernest Claes has his final resting place in the beautiful abbey cemetery.

Altar Dedicated to Saint Norbert

On 13 July 1700 the sculptor Pieter Scheemaeckers entered into an agreement with the abbot of Averbode, who commissioned an altar dedicated to Saint Norbert - the founder of the Order of Prémontre, which the community of Averbode Abbey is part of. Every feature of the altar had to be linked to the life and spirituality of Norbert and the order. The painting by Jan Erasmus Quellinus is suspended in the middle between the spiral columns: Saint Augustine passes on the order rule to Norbert.

The Averbode altarpiece

History sources tell of a great fire caused by lightning which heavily damaged the abbey church on 25 October 1499. Once the church was rebuilt, the Averbode altarpiece claimed its rightful place on the altar in 1514. Then it moved to the Norbertine (White Canons) refuge in Diest in the 17th century, and returned to the Abbey of Averbode in 1834 to be bought by the Antwerp Museum of Antiquities 40 years later. There it would stay put for the next 49 years until it returned to the abbey in 2023.

The spectacular altarpiece is really a team job rather than the work of one single person. A carpenter was responsible for the cabinet, a wood carver for making the figures, a painter for polychroming the figures and creating the scenes on the shutters. The carver, Jacob van Cothem in this case, would have been the most important artist working on a piece like this.

The sculpted scenes show the Lamentation of Christ and depict Christ at the top, in Limbo. The shutters were painted with oil and depict The Crucifixion and The Resurrection. When closed, the altarpiece shows us an Ecce Homo and The Encounter of Jesus and Veronica. The altarpiece shows elements of both the Early Netherlandish masters and the Renaissance. Its colourful scenes combined with their elegant figures against the lively backgrounds are a real feast for the eyes.