Location: Belgium Wallonia Dinant
17th-century pilgrimage church in Foy-Notre-Dame near Dinant – with a coffered ceiling of 145 painted oak panels.
Interesting facts
- The façade bears the year 1623 in iron numerals; the church was consecrated in 1624.
- The coffered ceiling consists of 145 painted oak panels.
- About 10,000 pilgrims attended the coronation of the Madonna on 8 September 1909.
Why visit
- Painted 17th-century coffered ceiling
- A living pilgrimage tradition
- Quiet village close to Dinant
The Church of Notre-Dame de Foy stands in the centre of the village of Foy-Notre-Dame, about six kilometres east of Dinant. Its story begins in 1609, when woodcutters felling an oak found a small terracotta statue of the Virgin Mary inside the trunk. According to tradition, a pilgrim had placed it in the tree some two centuries earlier, and the bark had grown over it.
After a first recorded miracle in 1616 and a visit by the Archdukes Albert and Isabella in 1619, the number of pilgrims grew. A chapel was begun in 1618 and the church in 1622; the year 1623 appears in iron numerals on the façade. The church was consecrated on 8 September 1624. About ten years later the flat coffered ceiling was completed, paid for by pilgrims’ donations.
The ceiling consists of 145 painted oak coffers and has been designated exceptional heritage of Wallonia since 2013; the church itself has been a listed monument since 1937. The pilgrimage season runs from May to October. In 2023 the annual pilgrimage from Rochefort was added to the masterpieces of intangible heritage of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
History
Statue of the Virgin found in an oak in 1609, first recorded miracle in 1616, visit by the Archdukes Albert and Isabella in 1619, chapel begun in 1618, church begun in 1622, consecrated on 8 September 1624, coffered ceiling completed about ten years later. Coronation of the Madonna in 1909, listed in 1937, ceiling designated exceptional heritage in 2013.
Special features
17th-century pilgrimage church with a flat coffered ceiling of 145 painted oak panels. The plans are attributed to the brothers Michel and Jaspard Stilmant together with Guillaume Goblet.
Map
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Sources
Image: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
