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The misericords and history of Liege St Jacques.

St Jacques has 29, 14th century misericords.

Click to launch a description of the misericords of St Jacques, Liege

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History of St Jacques, Liege, Belgium.

The church of Saint Jacques was founded in 1015 and is an incredible mixture of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance, which somehow manages to work together beautifully.  The church was part of the Benedictine abbey.

Prince Bishop Balderick II was present when the first stone was laid, and was, himself buried in the crypt upon his death a mere 3 years later.  The church was then built above the crypt between 1155 and 1173, complete with 2 square towers at the western end, and an octagonal central tower.

During the 14th century, the choir stalls were replaced and the misericords added.  These misericords are fairly simple, leaning heavily on mythological animals, as would be expected of this area, and date, the misericords do not have supporters.

Early in the 15th century, it was decided to have a Gothic makeover to the Romanesque church - this was remarkably sympathetically done - so often the styles clash..  However at some point, the normal thing happened, and money ran out, so it took until 1538 to complete, by which time, styles had once again moved on, into early renaissance - again, the love and sympathy of the architect shows through in the pleasant blend of styles.

In 1651, the Saint Jacques was struck by lightening, resulting in a partial collapse.  Although reconstruction work was carried out, the Romanesque square towers were not rebuilt.

Liege St Jacques does not, as of February 2009 appear to have its own website.

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