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Our Lady of Mousty Church
Notre Dame of Mousty is a romanesque church located in Mousty, a section of the Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve commune. It was possibly built on the site (or nearby) a Gallo-Roman villa.
The current church -- a church of Mosan Romanesque style dating from the 11th century, probably replacing a older wooden church, the traces of which no longer exist, was transformed during the neoclassical period in the 18th century (1729, 1744, and 1772).
The Our Lady of Mousty Church is one of the oldest churches in the region. The layout of the church is interesting as it has monastic sanctuaries, even though a monastery never seems to have existed in Mousty.
The church was probably dependant on a small Canon chapter from the 11th to the 13th centuries. The etymology of the place name, "Mousty" ("Moustiers" in 1230) is derived from the Latin "monasterium" and is perhaps a trace but it could simply denote a place of worship, without a religious community being is attached to it.
The crypt of the church crosses under the choir and serves as a place of relic veneration for pilgrims and the sick.
The parish house extends to the left of the vicarage. Without any particular charm, this building originally served as a post relay, then as a police station as from the end of the 19th century.
Outside Architecture
Chevet-Apse
The church has a square chevet-apse, it's lower part being Romanesque and upper part dating from the 18th century.
The Romanesque part is composed of rubble assembled in opus incertum (irregular work) among which one can make out pieces of tiles and bricks coming probably from a nearby Gallo-Roman villa.
It is adorned with a large blind arcade and is pierced at its base with semicircular arches pierced each by a small arched window (restored) illuminating the crypt. The chevet-apse has two complete arches on its eastern side and two incomplete arches on its north and south faces, interrupted by later brick sacristies.
The upper part of the chevet-apse facades dates from the 18th century and consists of bricks. The side facades of the chevet-apse are topped with a frieze of brick gear teeth.
The transept
Like the chevet, the transept has a lower Romanesque and an upper part dating from the 18th century and more particularly from 1744 as evidenced by the date inscribed in black bricks on the brick gear-tooth cable of the southern arm of the transept.
Here too, the Romanesque part is composed of rubble assembled in opus incertum among where one can make out pieces of tiles and bricks coming probably from a Gallo-Roman villa and re-used here.
The upper part of the facades of the transept dates from 1744 and consists of bricks.
The sacristies
The chevet-apse is flanked by two classical style sacristies, one dating from the 17th century and the other from the 18th century.
The side façades
The southern and northern facades of the nave date from 1744, the year when the dilapidated sides were rebuilt.
They are built in bricks and have a base of bluestone and a beveled cornice also in bluestone.
They are pierced by large windows of classic style whose stone frame is made of harped piers supporting a low arch.
The western facade
The western facade and its geartooth gable were built around 1771-1772 when the church was extended by the addition of the narthex.
The porch is modern; it was added in 1937. It also has a gable with spikes but here the brick spikes alternate with masonry rubble.
In front of the facade stands a rock-shaped funerary monument topped with a stone cross imitating the knots and grain of wood.
Inside Architecture
The narthex
The nave is preceded by a narthex.
This narthex, added in 1771-1772, houses a classical style bluestone doorway consisting of two molded pilasters, each topped with a carved ring in stone and a Tuscan-style square capital. The capitals have a low bluestone arch whose moldings prolong those of the pilasters and whose summit is interrupted by the ceiling of the narthex.
To the right of the doorway stands a bluestone font bearing the brand of stonemason on the rim.
The nave
The nave of Romanesque origin was greatly transformed in the 18th century. Initially, the ground level was much lower than that of the choir, giving pilgrims direct access to the crypt below the choir.
The floor of the nave was raised two meters in the 18 century to put the nave at the level of the choir, after which the pillars of the nave were partially buried, which gives them a stocky appearance. The angles of the pillars were bevelled to give them a less massive appearance and their bevel was adorned with cherub-shaped stuccoes at the top.
In addition, the vaulted ceiling was modified, which took away the Romanesque windows of the nave.
The nave houses a pulpit of truth dated from the end of the Renaissance, dated about 1600. This pulpit of polygonal form is backed up against a pillar. The bottom of the nave is occupied by an organ built in 1860 by the brothers Gheude, supported by two beautiful wooden columns with Corinthian capitals.
The intersection of the transept and the crosspieces
The intersection of the transept is topped by a dome with ribs.
The pillars between the nave and the intersection are adorned with oak paneling decorated with foliage, mantelings and acorns embellished with gilding.
The southern crosspiece of the transept shelters an altar that was originally dedicated to Saint Stephen and is now dedicated to Saint Joseph. Made of faux marble (painted oak) veined alternating with black faux marble, this Baroque altar is surmounted by a large polygonal niche framed by four twisted columns whose golden Corinthian capitals support a white entablature with a black broken pediment and a small gilded niche housing the statue of Saint Stephen. The altar of the southern crosspiece is preceded by an 18th-century oak communion bench with carved panels depicting biblical scenes: from left to right, the pelican, the showbread, the paschal lamb, the ark of covenant, the manna, and the seven-branched candlestick.
In contrast to this baroque altar, the northern crosspiece has a classic style, more sober. Made like the other altar in veined marble and black marble, the altar is topped with a tripartite altarpiece pierced in the center with a arched niche housing the statue of the Virgin. This altarpiece is punctuated with columns with gilded Corinthian capitals that support an entablature with a dome and four fire pots.
The choir
The interior of the church ends with a rectangular choir of two bays, painted white and covered with a ribbed vault.
The walls of the choir are adorned with oak paneling from the first half of the 17th century adorned with foliage, lambrequins and acorns embellished with gilding, very similar to those adorning the pillars of the crossing of the transept.
The main altar in classical style and dates from 1731. Made of marble (not false marble like the side altars), it is topped by an altarpiece framed by four columns of Corinthian style that support a powerful entablature with a broken pediment broken and a niche housing the statue of the Virgin.
The south aisle
The Romanesque aisles were so dilapidated that they were completely rebuilt in classical style in 1774. The window panes of the aisle windows date from the restoration of 1967.
The aisles house an important heritage.
Thus, in the south aisle (right aisle), one can admire:
The baptistery, in the axis of the south aisle, houses octagonal baptismal fonts.
The north aisle
The north aisle (left aisle), for its part, houses:
The Romanesque crypt
Our Lady of Mousty was a church of some importance as can be attested by the presence of a Romanesque crypt.
The crypt, whose walls are whitewashed, has four bays covered with vaults supported by an imposing central pillar and eight lateral pilasters.
It is lit by four windows pierced in the facades of the flat chevet.
In the Romanesque period, the pavement of the nave of the church was two meters lower than at present, which allowed the pilgrims to go directly from the nave to the crypt.
But the crypt was condemned after an earthquake in 1828 and was cleared only during the 1967 renovation.
The crypt houses the molding in marble of a woman's head found in 1905 in nearby Roman ruins: this object, dating back to the time of the Roman Severus dynasty, was probably once in the niche of a funerary monument.
Surrounding area
Old parish cemetery
The church is surrounded by the old parish cemetery, now abandoned but still has some funerary monuments.
The southern side of the cemetery, dominated by the imposing silhouette of a large solitary tree, has been almost entirely cleared: there is only one iron cross and a fragment of a tombstone on the ground.
The north facade retains some funerary monuments attached to the facade and a row of funerary monuments, perfectly aligned a few meters from the facade, but, above all, it is adorned with an awning attached to the north arm of the transept and decorated with lambrequins sheltering a Christ on a cross protected by a grid.
The west facade, finally, retains four gravestones of the nineteenth century, attached to the facade on both sides of the entrance.
Parvis (the square in front of the church)
On the parvis of the church is a stele honouring veterans on which is engraved a tribute in gold letters:
"let us not forget
to the memory
of the glorious soldiers dead on the battlefields.
Berthet F. disappeared in Loncin
Daout A. disappeared in Ramscappelle
Dumont H. fallen in Ougrée
Gilbert A. died in Brugges
Lambert H. died in Herent
of the victims of German cruelty
Leurquin A. died during deportation to Wittenberg
Bastians C. and Musette A. killed treacheroursly in Limelette
1914 - 1918"
Featured below this stele is a hommage to a colonial pioneer in the Congo:
"Hommage from the Commune of Ceroux-Mousty to
Dandoy Arthur, surveyor, colonial pioneer
1897 - 1901, died in Lusambo, Kasai, at the age of 24"
This point of interest is part of the tour: Ottignies-Louvain-La-Neuve: Monuments & Sights
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