Sint-Gummaruskerk Steenbergen

Steenbergen is a small town in the west of North Brabant, close to the Volkerak and the Brabantse Wal, the low ridge that marks the edge of the Brabant sand country. The town has a fortified past and a long-standing Catholic identity, and its church, the Sint-Gummaruskerk, is the principal landmark. The patron saint, Gummarus, is better known in Belgium, where he is the saint of the town of Lier, and his cult spread across the border region of Flanders and Brabant, which explains why a Brabant town carries his name.

The church is in the neo-Gothic style, which dominated Catholic church building in the Netherlands in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth. After the Reformation, Catholics in the north had been restricted for centuries, and when full freedom of worship returned in the nineteenth century, they built a great many new churches. Pierre Cuypers, the architect of the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Centraal, became the leading designer of such buildings, and he and his son Joseph produced designs for churches across the country. The Sint-Gummaruskerk is associated with the Cuypers firm, and its completion around the turn of the twentieth century fits that wave of building.

Neo-Gothic churches generally follow the model of medieval cathedrals, with pointed arches, ribbed vaults, tall windows, a crossing with transepts and a soaring tower. They were built mostly of brick with stone details and have richly painted and decorated interiors. The effect is meant to lift the eyes upward and to suggest the grandeur of the faith. In places where the ground is soft, such as the clay and peat of the Brabant lowlands, a church of this size needs strong foundations, usually in the form of wooden piles driven deep into the earth, and later reinforcement is sometimes needed as the building settles. Details of the Steenbergen church's foundations and repairs are the kind of story told by local guides.

Visitors can see the exterior and, when it is open, the interior, which usually has stained glass, altars, a pulpit and statues. Opening times are often limited, and the church is still used for services, so it is best to ask locally or check on the spot. The market square and the old streets of Steenbergen provide a pleasant walk, with the town hall and other historic buildings nearby.

The church suits architecture lovers, people interested in religious heritage and travellers exploring west Brabant. A visit takes half an hour. Combine it with a trip to Bergen op Zoom, the Basilica of Oudenbosch or a bike ride through the countryside.