St. Aubin's Cathedral (French:Cathédrale Saint-Aubain) is aRoman Catholiccathedral inNamur, Belgium, and the country's only cathedral inacademic Late Baroque style. It was the only church built in theLow Countries as a cathedral after 1559, when most of the dioceses of the Netherlands were reorganized. It is classified as part ofWallonia's Major Heritage by theWalloon Region.
The cathedral was founded as acollegiate church in 1047 byAlbert II of Namur. The first dean, Frederick of Lorraine, brother-in-law of Albert II, about 1050 secured fromMainz Cathedral a portion of the head ofSaint Albanus, to whose patronage the collegiate church was dedicated. In 1057, Frederick became pope under the name ofStephen IX. In 1209,Pope Innocent III formally took the Church of St. Aubin under his protection.[1]
The church became a cathedral by virtue of thepapal bull of 12 May 1559 establishing the new bishoprics in the Low Countries, with theDiocese of Namur created as a suffragan see of theArchdiocese of Cambrai.[1]
In the cathedral, a marble plaque near thehigh altar conceals a casket containing the heart ofDon Juan of Austria, governor of theHabsburg Netherlands, who died in 1578; his body lies in theEscorial nearMadrid.
Between 1751 and 1767, the cathedral was almost entirely rebuilt to Italianate designs of theTicinese architectGaetano Matteo Pisoni.[2] A 13th-century tower at the west end of the church is the main remnant from before the rebuilding.
In 1908, a Belgian architect,Charles Ménart used the cathedral as inspiration for a church he designed,St Aloysius Church, inGlasgow.[3]
In the interior, there is an ornamented frieze, carved with swags of fruit and flowers between theCorinthian capitals runs in an unbroken band entirely around the church. All colour is avoided, replaced by architectural enrichments and thebas-reliefs in thependentives of the dome. The interior contains works of art that include paintings byAnthony van Dyck,Jacob Jordaens andJacques Nicolaï, aJesuitlay brother and student ofRubens. There is also an old, Romanesque baptismal font.[2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Georges Goyau (1911). "Diocese of Namur".Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10.
50°27′53″N4°51′36″E / 50.4646°N 4.8599°E /50.4646; 4.8599
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