Created By: HDS3 Tours
The foundation of the parish is prior to 1213, as evidenced by a charter the same year.
With a classic style, the current Saint Remy's Chursh was built in 1785, replacing an older church that had been devastated by a fire in 1726. A calamity for the residents, the fire also took the presbytery and all of the archives.
The parish cemetery, originally located around the church, was decommissioned in 1905. There remains, however, funerary slabs inside and outside of the church, dating from 1810 to 1905.
The ensemble formed by the Saint-Rémy Church, the presbytery and the Castle of Ottignies were registered as historical monuments on May 29, 1952. This classification made it possible to limit the widening of the road and to preserve the surroundings of the church and the presbytery.
In 1972, with the return of the students to UCL in Louvain-la-Neuve, the inside of the nave was entirely restored under the direction of Professor Raymond Lemaire.
Outside architecture
Materials
The church, covered with slate, is built of bricks and is distinguished by the use of beautiful blocks of ferruginous sandstone, at the base, cornices of the body of the building and the belfry, corner chains and the framing of the bays: this material makes all the originality of the building and gives it its color.
The ferruginous sandstone of Brussels (brown sandstone of the country) is an inexpensive material, endowed with a medium resistance and a strong sensitivity to frost. It is easily engraved: here in Ottignies, many blocks of the basement bear quarry marks (or stonemason brands).
In contrast to the brown sandstone, window sills and windows are made of bluestone (small granite).
The bell tower and the western facade
The facade, 17 meters wide, incorporates the bell tower, slightly protruding out from the facades of the aisles.
The bell tower, topped with an octagonal arrow, has a basement and corner stones consisting of imposing blocks of ferruginous sandstone and a beveled cornice made of the same material.
Each of the four levels of the western face of the bell tower is adorned with a classic-style bay:
Unlike the other bays of the building, the frame of the bays of the western facade is made of bluestone (gray or blue-coloured limestone also called small granite).
The side facades
Each of the 22-meter long side facades features six large low-arch classical windows with a frame made of ferruginous sandstone (except for the bluestone base).
Here too, basement, corner stones and beveled cornices are made of ferruginous sandstone, engraved Roman numerals are visible.
The sandstone blocks of the basement bear stonemason marks of stonemason.
The apse
The building ends with an imposing five-sided apse enhanced by its ferruginous sandstone corner stones.
The choir, set back four meters from the side façades, is lit by large windows in classical style similar to those of the nave, but placed slightly lower, at one-third of the building's height.
The sacristy
The apse is extended by a sacristy, 6 meters long, which lies in the axis of the choir.
It has the same characteristics as the entire building: red bricks and basement blocks in ferruginous sandstone. Its facades, adorned with a toothed frieze made of brick, are pierced, to the north, by a door facing the presbytery and, to the south, a window framed by massive blocks of ferruginous sandstone and topped with a block of ferruginous sandstone cut concavely in the shape of a lowered arch.
The extension of the sacristy erected between 1921 and 1926 shows highly visible differences with the sacristy of origin. The frames of the bays are made of bluestone (small granite) and more ferruginous sandstone because it was no longer used. The volume is also different, the new part being narrower. The cellars are lit by two small windows on the southern side of the extension of the sacristy.
Inside architecture and decoration
Plan and style
The building has a basilica plan without transept, with a vestibule topped by the organ to the west, a nave of five bays flanked by two aisles, and a choir extended by a three-sided apse to the east.
The church is of classical style, the columns being Tuscan in style.
The vestibule and the baptistery
Access to the building is through a vestibule located under the tower, next to which are two small square rooms, each with a window. One is the old baptistery (transformed into chapel week 2014 -2015). The other houses the staircase that gives access to the tower.
The baptismal font in red and black stands in the nave beside the entrance. Is is composed of an octagonal bowl and column resting on a partially square and partially octagonal base.
Above the vestibule, lodged under a barrel vault piercing into the tower, there is the church organ, preceded by a balustraded balcony.
The nave
The nave, 21 meters long and ten meters high, has five bays.
It is separated from the aisles by large round columns topped with Tuscan capitals and carried by octagonal bases of bluestone (small granite) topped with toric rings.
The semicircular arches supported by these columns, to the lower surface decorated with rectangular moldings, are made of stucco.
The nave is surmounted by a flat ceiling divided into several compartments by moldings. The central compartment is decorated with a circular decoration in stucco representing a cross surrounded by vegetation.
Walls, ceilings and columns are painted in cream color, except for the Tuscan capitals and moldings that are painted white.
The floor of the nave consists of a black marble pavement with five white crosses.
The choir
The choir, ten meters long and slightly smaller than the nave, has two choir bays and ends with a three-sided apse.
The choir bays are covered with a barrel vault whose transverse arch falls on lampstands adorned with acanthus leaves. Each bay is pierced by two arched windows and is delimited by pilasters: between the two bays, an arch is placed on modillions representing long leaves of plants. The choir is raised two degrees and paved with a checkerboard pattern.
The apse is covered with a polygonal vault. The middle part is decorated with a large crucifix and pierced by a door, hidden behind a masonry screen, which gives access to the sacristy.
The aisles
The aisles, as high as the nave, are pierced by five windows, one per bay.
The ceilings of the aisles are flat like those of the nave and have slightly rounded edges that make a smooth transition to the walls of the church. These ceilings are delimited by moldings, in three compartments of equal length, the middle of which is adorned with a stucco decoration consisting of a rosette of acanthus leaves.
In the wall of the left aisle is a tiny niche in white marble framed by two small columns, whose vault is decorated with radiating motifs extended by the keystones of the arch.
Side altars
Each aisle ends, near the choir, with a neoclassical wooden altar (Louis XVI) dating from the end of the 18th century.
Each of these altars, made of oak enhanced with gilding, is composed vertically of five registers:
* an altar table whose antependium (front of altar) is decorated with a double cartridge with crossettes;
* a compartmentalized predella;
* a curved altarpiece adorned with an oak statue framed by two pilasters and four columns whose gilded composite capitals support an entablature;
* a canopy with scrolls framing an escutcheon radiating pattern and flanked by two fire pots;
* the orb, a globe topped with a cross symbolizing God's dominion over the world.
The altar on the left houses the statue of the Virgin. Its crest contains the monogram IHS, transliteration of the name "Jesus" in Greek.
The altar on the right houses the statue of Saint Rémy. Its crest contains the intertwined letters "A" and "M", summarizing the Latin phrase "Auspice Maria" which can be translated as "Under the protection of Mary", followed by the letter "R" for "Regina" (Queen).
Baroque confessionals
Each aisle houses a remarkable Baroque confessional from the 17th century.
Each confessional is composed of a door decorated at its base with a St. James shell (symbol of the pilgrimage of Saintiago-de-Compostela), framed by two pilasters on acanthus leaves widening to represent a character.
On the confessional of the left aisle are represented St. Peter (and his two keys) and St. Paul (with his attributes, the book and the sword); on that of the right ailse are figured Hope (with an anchor, this virtue being the anchor of the soul) and Faith.
Paintings by Maximilian De Haese
Each of the aisles is decorated with a large painting by Maximilian De Haese, an 18th-century Baroque painter.
On the left, we find "The Assumption of the Virgin" and on the right "The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple".
These paintings, painted in 1766, were bought in 1831 and come from the Saint Nicholas Church in Brussels.
Funeral monument of the barons Marcq de Tiège
The right aisle houses the funerary monument of the barons Marcq de Tiège family, which was once outside, near the funerary monument of Guillaume-François Berthout Carillo and was transferred to the interior of the church.
Guillaume-François Berthout of Palma-Carillo had bequeathed Ottignies to his wife Agathe Ghislaine Françoise of Vicq de Cumptich provided that she remarry and have a son. She married in 1811 Paul Henri Dominique, baron Marcq de Tiège, and they had three sons: Edouard, Edmond, and Louis. The feudal regime having lived, Baron Paul de Marcq de Tiège did not become the lord of Ottignies but instead its first mayor.
The monument consists of a bas-relief bearing a funerary inscription tupped with a coat of arms of a shield, a crown, a helmet, and lambrequins, all topped with the motto "Vis Unita Fortior" (United force has more vigor) and surrounded by two lions:
"Here rest
François de Marcq of Tiège
Died in Ottignies in 1856
Paul Henri Dominique
Baron Marcq de Tiège
Born in Tienen on 28 February 1784
Died at Ottignies on 6 September 1866
And his wife
Agathe Ghislaine Françoise
Beak of Vicq of Cumptick
Deceased at Ottignies on 8 November 1837
Their sons
Edouard Marie Baron of Marcq de Tiège
Born in Ottignies in 1813
There died on 19 January 1860
Louis Marie Baron of Marcq de Tiège
Born in Ottignies the 21 october 1823
Died at Lesves on 5 October 1878
Edmond Marie Ghislain Baron of Marcq de Tiège
Mayor of Ottignies Knight of the Order of Leopold
Born in Ottignies on 10 February 10 1816
There died on 3 July 1890 »
The obiits of the barons of Marcq de Tiège
The church is adorned onthe back wall with 6 "obiits" (diamond-shaped panel bearing coat of arms and date of death), commemorating the death of members of the family of the barons Marcq de Tiège
The "obiits" are decorated with a coat of arms, a crown, a helmet, and lambrequins, all topped with the the motto "Vis Unita Fortior" (United force has more vigor) and surrounded by two lions, coats of arms also seen on the funerary monument erected in the right aisle.
At the back of the left aisle are two black obiits and a white obiit commemorating the following deaths:
Above the baptistery, the back of the right aisle is also adorned with two black obiits and a white obiit:
The organ
Installed on the rood screen (choir screen, jube), there is an organ with two keyboards and pedal. The casing is old, but the instrument it contains has been modified several times, especially in the twentieth century.
The old parish cemetery
The outer walls of the church are adorned with several funerary monuments left over from the deconsecratoin of the cemetery in 1905: four on the south walls and three on the north walls.
The monument of Viscount Bertout de Carillo
Sealed in the southern facade of the apse stands the funeral monument of Guillaume-François Berthout de Carillo (1738-1810), viscount of Ottignies, last feudal lord of Ottignies. The seigniory of Ottignies was sold in 1731 by the family of Spangen to Anne-Geneviève de Carillo whose grandson Guillaume-François Berthout de Carillo lifted his fiefs in 1785 and died without descendents in 1810, transmitting Ottignies to the family of Barons Marcq de Tiège by his wife.
This monument, made of bluestone (small granite), is composed of four parts: a molded support, a sculpted slab, an entablature and, finally, a small curved pediment adorned with a winged hourglass, allegory of passing time ("Tempus fugit"), and flanked by two acroteria.
The slab itself carries from top to bottom:
The epitaph reads:
"D.O.M.*
here lies the body of
Mr Guillaume François
Bertout de Carillo
former Lord of Ottignies
born the year 1738 the 28th of February
passed away on the 18th of May 1810 at the age of 72
with all the Sacraments
of our Mother the Holy Church
pray god for the rest of his soul"
* (Deo optimo maximo = to God, most good, most great)
This point of interest is part of the tour: Ottignies-Louvain-La-Neuve: Monuments & Sights
Please send change requests to changerequest@pocketsights.com.