Doezum (Gr): reformed church
The
church of Doezum, dedicated to St. Vitus until the Reformation, is a
largely Romanesque one-aisled building with a saddle-roof tower, like
so many churches in the northern provinces. Its oldest part is the
12th-century tower, its upper part excluded, and the reduced westwork.
As usual for that period, this part of the church was built of
tuff. In ca. 1200 the choir was built, this time using bricks. Although
it has a polygonal closure, the apse is semi-circular on the inside. Of
the
original nave nothing remains; it was rebuilt in the 16th century and
part of its tuff stones were used to heighten the tower. The new nave
was again replaced in 1808 by the current brick one in simple
neo-Classical style. At the same time the northern part of the reduced
westwork was demolished and the remaing arches closed with bricks.
During a restoration in 1954-1957 an entrance was added to the west
side of the tower, thus further damaging the image of the reduced
westwork.
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