Notre-Dame du Val-Dieu church

 

Notre-Dame du Val-Dieu church is a Gothic building laid out like a basilica. It is an integral part of Notre-Dame du Val-Dieu abbey. Created by a Cistercian community that had lived there since the 13th century, the group of abbey buildings is made up of a church, a cloister, monastic rooms, and old abbey dwelling, the old foreigners' quarter (or castle) and a farm.

The current abbey church is the result of numerous phases of construction, destruction, reconstruction and restoration since it was built in 1225 and until part of it collapsed in 1839. Looted at the beginning of the 19th century, rebuilding work on the church was finished in 1884. The church is made up of a nave with five bays (prior to the 17th century there were seven). The nave is flanked by two side aisles. The whole building is supported by neo-Gothic flying buttresses. The transept crossing is topped by a spire that was rebuilt in 1934.

Note the Renaissance-style choir stalls that come from Paix-Dieu abbey in Amay. The furnishings are neo-Gothic as a whole, replacing items sold in the 19th century.

Listed (10-02-1942)