The Sint-Pieterskerk (St. Peter's Church) was the first church in De Panne and was built at the end of the 1870s by the Calmeyn-Bortier family on land donated by them. The church was intended for the inhabitants of the hamlet of De Panne (formerly also called Josephdorp and Kerckepanne).
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History
In 1877, when De Panne was still a fishing village belonging to Adinkerke, the family Calmeyn-Bortier added a chapel to De Panne. Arthur Verhaegen was the architect for the job. Around 1891, Hortense Calmeyn, the unmarried daughter of Jozef Calmeyn and Emilie Bortier, commissioned that the neo-Gothic Sint-Pieterskerk be expanded by four bays into a fully-fledged church. The tower was added in 1936, when the church was no longer in the centre of the community due to the construction of the Dumontwijk.
Architecture
The Sint-Pieterskerk was built according to a design by the Veurn architect Jozef Vinck. This three-aisled neo-Gothic hall church is built with yellow bricks. Typical features of the neo-Gothic style include buttresses, airy arches, stone window hinges (ending in the ornamental play of traceries), openwork balustrades along the gutters at the foot of the roofs, pinnacles, pediments or breeches, triforia, and window sills that break up the surfaces with airy arcades.
Interior
The Sint-Pieterskerk has a colourful past. The decorations and furniture are exceptional. Unfortunately, over the years, the original interior was adapted to the prevailing austerity fashion and only a limited part of the interior design as it was conceived at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century was preserved. The wooden furnishings, mostly in neo-Gothic style, include the impressive vault structure, some grandiose statues, altars, confessionals, a pulpit, communion pews, oratory chairs, part of a sacramental tower, a magnificent organ box and a sumptuous vestry cabinet.
Since 1 July 2021, the Sint-Pieterskerk has not been used for worship. This means that there are no more masses being held.
How to get there?
How much does it cost?
Great news, admission is free!
When is it open?
Currently no longer accessible
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