Basilica of Saint Servatius

Location: Maastricht

Date: 8 january

Mette Westerink V4C

Introduction
On the 8th of january I was in Maastricht for a day with my parents and my
sister. In Maastricht we went to the Basilica of Saint Servatius

Summary

The Basilica of Saint Servatius is a Roman Catholic church which is

dedicated to Saint Servatius. The church is standing between three
squares: het Vrijthof, Keizer Karelplein and the Henric van Veldekeplein.
The church consists of Romanesque Architecture which is an architerual
style from the 6th to the late 10th century. The church was built on top of
the grave of Saint Servatius and is one of the oldest still existing churches
of the Netherlands. The church was built during a period when Saint
Servatius kept close ties to the Holy Roman Emperors, and that is why the
church had some characteristics of a German imperial church.

Purpose/Meaning

The purpose of this church when it was built in 1039 was as a proprietary
church. A proprietary church is a church which belongs to the landowner
where the church was built on. The landowner was mostly a feudal lord or
a bishop. A few years later in 1218, the purpose of the church changed to
a pelgrimschurch. Pelgrims wanted to visit this church because of the
grave of Saint Servatius.

Means

In the architecture of the church you see a lot of Romanesque

characteristics. There are a lot of round arches in the doors, windows and
arcades. There is a transept, which is very romanesque. There are large
towers which is used for many romanesque churches. The building
material of the church, marl, is something from the region. Marl is
something that you can find a lot in Limburg so that would refer to the
place where the church is built.

Historical content

The historical content of this church is that it is built for Saint Servatius. He
exhausted himself with a very long period of fastening. He had a habit of
not drinking and not eating for many days. There would be not even a
moment for him that would went by without praying. Saint Servatius had a
connection with Christ. The lord spoke to him that he had to leave the
place where he was living as soon as possible. The lord said that he would
leave his body, and so it happened, when he arrived in Maastricht he got a
light fever and he left his body.

Sources
http://www.sintservaas.nl/english/htm/1aextra.htm

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Servaasbasiliek_(Maastricht)

Pictures

Review

I could not find a good reliable review but i did find a site with small
reviews from visiters. The site zoover.nl is a site where people could
comment on the church. The church got a 8.2 out of 10 and has a lot of
good comments. People comment that the church is very impressive and
beautiful to see and that you become really calm from being in this church
because you go from the noise on the Vrijthof to complete silence and
rest. I kind of agree with this comments because it was really calm inside
of the church and people were quiet, but i did not become really calm
myself. i did think that it was impressive to see because it is a very big
building and i think it is very impressive that it is built on the grave of a
holy man.

Conclusion/Opinion

I did like the visit at the basilica of Saint Servatius. I think that it looks very
beautiful because there are a lot of decorative things in the church. in my
opinion it is nice to see but i could not stay in the church for very long
because I felt like I had seen everything so after a while i felt a bit bored. I
do think that it is impressive how they have built the church and how you
can recognize things from the roman times. It was nice to see but for me, I
was done soon.