Saint Nicholas Parish Church – Dessel

From 1948 – 1950, due to severe war damage, the church was rebuilt and enlarged for the last time in a matching style designed by Jozef Schellekens. The old parts – the western tower, gable ends of the transept and choir closure – had to be integrated into the new concept. Jozef was thus bound by four fixed points between which he had to erect a new and larger church. This assignment resulted in a church widened over its entire length with fairly good proportions; the chapels of the side altars (side choirs) were widened and extended, causing the former storage and sacristy to disappear; the transept windows were renewed in analogy with the new sections, and the southern transept was provided with a new side entrance. The tower received storage and a side portal on both sides.

Of interest in the new section is the distinction between the exterior, which has a Neo-Gothic touch, and the interior, which is not a reconstruction of a former state, but a modern interpretation of the Gothic style, taking into account local style elements such as the planked vaults. A lowering of the church floor was accompanied by the removal of most 17th and 18th-century graves; foundations of an earlier building phase were also found.

To the north of the church, next to the rectory, a new sacristy was erected. During the recent redesign of the Market Square, among other things, the wall (1934) that delineated the old churchyard and a couple of old tombstones against the southern and eastern church façades disappeared.

Link: Inventory of Immovable Heritage