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The misericords and history of Breda Grote Kerk,

Our Lady.

The Church of Our Lady, Breda has 61 misericords including 6 mid-20th century misericords.

Click to launch a description of the misericords at Breda Grote Kerk

Please click on the thumbnails for larger images.

Nick Jones has kindly let me have a design based on some of the misericords at Breda Grote Kerk.

History of Breda Grote Kerk

The Church of Our Lady, Breda, in southern Holland has an history dating back 750 years.  Founded by 1269, as a small stone church, although it may have been founded earlier, as the first written evidence is in Charter of Breda from that date.

In 1303 the church was elevated to Collegiate status, with eight canons.  Later the college was enlarged to 12, and finally 13 canons.

The current church, built to replace the original church dates from 1410, but appears to have been built in phases, as it was not completed until 1547.

It is not recorded when the misericords were created, but, as they were present when the choir stalls  restored in 1625, it would indicate that the misericords were created early in the current church’s history.  55 of the misericords survive from this medieval period, and cover a very divers range of styles and subject matter - mythical beasts, Elephants and folklore abound.  6 new misericords were created after the WWII, and are said to be representative of recent events - these include a German soldier surrendering and a motorcycle rider with pillion. Overall, an incredibly interesting set of misericords.

The Official Breda Grote Kerk website - Currently this is in Dutch only.

Click here for more Dutch Misericords

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