St. Chrysole, Comines

Restoration 2011-2017

Since the summer of 2011 the church of St. Chrysole was being restored.

Great effort is taken to recover this building in its former glory.
In several phases, the church was externally and internally restored.

Every year in summer we came back in Comines, to follow the progress of the restoration. In the meantime our friends of l’association St Chrysole et des Amis de Comines have send us pictures and updates. We would like to express our gratitude for that!

Before 2011…

Nets in the nave to prevent falling masonry, plants growing out of the walls, windows cracked by expanding iron in the rebates... Saint Chrysole is in desperate need of some maintenance!

Phase 1: The tower (2011)

At first the tower is taken care of. It suffered severe damage at the concrete and iron bars and this is repaired. Also the bells suspension is renewed.

Phase 2: The exterior of the nave. (2012)

The nave was the next project. The concrete parts of the windows were replaced, the stained glass windows are restored. The roof is watertight again.

Phase 2/3: The interior of the nave and the exterior of the dome. (2012-2013)

In the interior the original colours of the walls are used again. 80 Years of burning candles had made the walls a bit dim, pale. The colouring of the walls and the ceilings look very bright now and some people have to get used to it. Dom Bellot uses bright colours for his churches, so the colours would last long. Pollution makes the colours pale. In ‘l Artisan Liturgique Bellot describes this use of colour in his church for Audincourt and explaines why it is intended to be so bright and flashy.

Phase 3: The exterior and interior of the dome. (2013-2014)

In 2013 a start was made with the repairing of the roof of the dome. The glazed tiles are all repaired or replaced and the concrete roof is made watertight again. The four corner-turrets were in such bad shape some of them had to be rebuild. After repairing the outside a start was made at the interior. The painting at the ceiling of the dome returned, based on research on site and in archives. The stained-glass windows were repaired and replaced and four beautiful chandeliers were made in style to the original ones. The Comines parish is now using the nave, in a temporary setting.

Phase 4: Exterior and interior of the sanctuary. (2015)

In the summer of 2015 the sanctuary is finished and decorated again. The church hall is now in good condition. Only the sacristy and the day chapel are still waiting for restoration.

Phase 5: Restoration of the day chapel and the sacristy (2016-2017)

The restoration of the day chapel also meant that the attic floor that was ever created is to be removed. The day chapel is completely restored to the original plans.

In this phase, too, the pipe organ was unfortunately removed from the church. The communion rails have been replaced from the rear of the nave to their original location near the altar.

Phase 5.1: Restoring the pulpit to original plans. (2017)

Thanks to archival research, the pulpit could be reconstructed to the original building plans. With this, the restoration of the church was actually completed in October 2017.

Photo's: M. Sence (Comines), A.A.Lukassen and A.W.A. Lukassen, 2010-2017

The webmasters and their friends from Comines in front of the church.

Photo: Florent Steinling, Nord Eclair, august 2013