If you’re in the town centre, our village church is absolutely worth a visit. Its history dates back to 1087, when the Benedictine monks of Saint-Ricquier built a priory on this site. In 1196, Count Baldwin of Flanders found himself at odds with the Bishop of Tournai and the King of France. The monks were turfed out as a consequence, but just five years later, they returned to rebuild their priory.
Doom, gloom and bloody religious wars
The Beggars Revolt put the monks to the test yet again. The priory was destroyed, and only the chapel remained standing. During the Siege of Ostend, the Spanish captured the site. They used the church — or the parts that remained standing, at least — as a keep to defend themselves.
By 1860, nothing left standing of the chapel was worth saving. The town decided to start all over again on the site instead, and the new church was inaugurated in 1907. Whatever happens to our Bredene place of worship, it keeps on rising like a phoenix!
Historical splendour
The stunning wooden furniture in Louis XIV style has been preserved, and the confessionals also stand out as genuine masterpieces of wood cutting and turning. Paintings by Dobbelaere, a 19th-century Bruges fine arts painter, adorn the side altars. The choir contains an extravagant tabernacle, and the spectacular organ by Andries Jacobus Berger is another must-see. Andries was a member of the famous Berger family, who passed the art of building organs down through the generations.