St. Germanus Church

Tienen, Belgium

St. Germanus Church with Stadstoren (City Tower) was built in the first half of the 12th century. The church was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Parts of the original church remain from the 14th-15th century. The tower was erected in 1555. Together with plenty other belfries in Belgium and France St. Germanus Church was recognised by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1999.

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Address

Trapstraat 19, Tienen, Belgium
See all sites in Tienen

Details

Founded: 14th century
Category: Religious sites in Belgium

Rating

4.8/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Opheylissem Castle (7,2 km)


Leuven Town Hall (18,6 km)
St. Peter's Church (18,6 km)
St. Rumbold's Cathedral (40,7 km)
Mechelen Town Hall (40,5 km)
St. Michael's Church (18,5 km)
Villers Abbey (37,5 km)
St. Quentin Cathedral (31,2 km)
Grand Béguinage (18,5 km)
Large Béguinage (41,2 km)

User Reviews

Pieter Dewever (2 years ago)
Een uniek uitzicht over Tienen vanaf het spoorwegtalud.
Jonas Beyens (2 years ago)
Een prachtige kerk met tal van culturele schatten. Een kerk waar je altijd kan gaan bidden en de parochie elke zondag een mooie hoogmis geeft. De deken is een man die iedereen te hulp wilt staan en met open armen allen ontvangt. Zeker en vast de moeite waard om eens te bezoeken.
Maurice van der Meer (2 years ago)
Dekanale kerk, recent gerestaureerd hoogaltaar. Prachtige gebrandschilderde ramen. Zeer goed onderhouden geheel. Druk bezochte erediensten op zon- en feestdagen.
Rachel Sutherland (2 years ago)
A beautiful, massive ancient church in the heart of medieval Tienen, well worth a visit. Unpretentious and otherworldly.
Edelhart Y. Kempeneers (3 years ago)
Mooie 12e eeuwse kerk met beiaard.
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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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