Click here to go to the main page
Oosterblokker (NH): reformed church or Pancratiuskerk

The Utrecht Cathedral accounts first mention the St. Pancratius church of Oosterblokker in 1395.  There must however have been a church in the village earlier than that, judging from several 12th-century gravestones in Romanesque style. Also, parts of the church roof date from the 14th century and were probably part of an earlier church.

Apart from that, there is nothing left of that early church. The tower of today's church probably dates from the middle of the 15th century. In the second half of the 15th century the current nave replaced its predecessor. Like others in this region, the nave is aisleless but wide. It's in a modest Gothic style. The transept and the choir were both built in the second quarter of the 16th century and are richer in style. The ornamentation of the transept walls, with blind niches and traceries, is also found at many other Gothic churches in the wider area. The church is entirely built of bricks, except for some ornamentative use of natural stone, mainly in the buttresses of the transept and the choir. The church is covered by the wooden construction of a barrel-vault to which the planks were never attached.

Like all churches in this part of the country, the St. Pancratius became a protestant church after the Reformation and remained generally intact, although at some point part of the church was covered in plaster.  An attempt by the catholics in ca. 1800, after the protestants had lost their privileged position, to have the church returned to them, failed. But in the 20th century it had become too big for the protestants and maintenance was neglected. By the 1940's its walls were in danger of collapsing and a big wooden pole was put in place to support the wooden roof construction. Eventually the protestant community had to abandon the church. In ca. 1970,  the choir and the roof were finally restored but otherwise the church was still left to the elements. The continued discussion about the state of the church finally resulted in a restoration between 1985 and 1989. It reopened that latter year as a cultural center.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Back to Churches in the province of Noord-Holland

Back to Drechterland municipality
Naamloos 1