The
oldest known church in Haaksbergen was built before the year 1200. It
was a one-aisled building in Romanesque style, with stone vaults and a
semi-circular apse and built of sandstone. In the 15th century, the
nave was lengthened and the apse was replaced by a larger, Gothic
choir, using the old sandstone. Starting in 1565, the tower was built.
By that time, the church was a two-aisled hall-church in Gothic style.
In 1584, during the Eighty Years War, the church was badly damaged.
From 1630 until 1810, the St. Pancratius was in the hands of the
protestants. In the meantime, several natural disasters had taken their
toll. In 1836, when the church had been back in catholic hands for 26
years, it was damaged some more. Eventually only parts of the walls
remained of the original church.
In 1887-1888 the St. Pancratius was restored and enlarged by Alfred
Tepe. He transformed the church into a three-aisled
hall-church by largely replacing the main aisle and choir, adding a
northern side-aisle and adding several chapels. Because the familiar
Bentheimer sandstone was used, it was actually the first time Tepe used
natural stone on such a large scale, age differences between "old" and
"new" parts are hard to see.
