Mons 2

My first stop today was the 15th century Gothic Collégiale Ste-Waudru. This monumental and magnificent church with its superb set of gargoyles was named after Saint Waudru, a virtuous 7th century nun who founded a small religious community in Mons. Here's a 15th century carving of her with her two daughters in wood polychrome. The shrine containing Ste Waudru's relics is suspended above the altar. Each year on the weekend of Trinity Sunday Mons holds the Festival of the Ducasse de Mons or Doudou, where the casket containing the remains of Ste Waudru is placed in a golden Louis XV1 wooden carriage called the "Car d'Or and paraded around town, escorted by hundreds of costumed guardians. After Ste-Waudru's romp around the Grand-Place the Car d'Or is pushed back up the hill to the Church in one mighty effort by the enormous crowd. After the saint's relics are safely back in her shrine chaos erupts n the Grand-Place with a battle battle between St George the chivalrous knight and the Dragon. Inevitably St George wins. Good triumphs over evil. Inside the church behind the apse are five glorious stained glass windows. As well, there are some wonderful alabaster sculptures by Jacques du Broeucq, the master 16th century sculptor and architect. Here are his "Flagellation of Christ" and "The Resurrection". Another superlative edifice is the 17th century Baroque Beffroi. Luckily for me there was an internal lift, which took me two-thirds of the way up for some magnificent views of Mons. Here's a photo of the clock mechanism and one of the stairway. Tomorrow I head back to Brussels and thus will have completed my clockwise travels around Belgium.










Comments

  1. Unknown22 July 2018 at 14:55

    C'est magnifique Neil 🕍

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NEIL'S FRANCE SOJOURN23 July 2018 at 00:18

      Je suis très heureux que tu aimes aussi ces belles églises. 😍

      Delete

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