Saint Waltrude

Jacques Du Broeucq, master artist to Emperor Charles V and architect to Mary of Hungary, helped spread Renaissance art in 16th-century Mons. He built a black marble and alabaster Renaissance rood screen in the collegiate church. Destroyed after the French Revolution, many reliefs and sculptures survive in Saint Waltrude, revealing his talent. “The Resurrection,” his only signed work, is the largest and most famous.

Abraham Janssens (1571-1632) is an Antwerp painter, contemporary of Rubens and master of Gérard Seghers. This painting was originally commissioned for the high altar of the Jesuit Church in Mons. Following the suppression of the order in 1773, he found himself in Saint Waltrude after many tribulations. This work can be considered one of the artist's most ambitious and is interesting for the important role it has played in the decoration of Jesuit churches in our regions. It was restored in 2007.

One of Belgium’s finest stained-glass ensembles, showing the evolution of the art in the 16th century. The apse windows, donated by Margaret of Austria, depict the imperial family (Maximilian of Austria, Philip the Handsome, Mary of Burgundy, Margaret of Austria, Charles V). Affirming Habsburg-Burgundian power, they also reflect the church’s prestige. Made by Mons craftsmen; some are attributed to Nicolas Rombouts.

Each year on Trinity Sunday, Saint Waltrude’s shrine is placed on the Golden Coach and drawn in procession through the city by six horses. At the end, the coach must be pulled in a single effort up the slope of Saint Waltrude; legend says this guarantees a year of prosperity and happiness for Mons. Successor to several carriages since the 14th century, the present Golden Coach, in gilded wood and richly adorned with angels in the Baroque tradition, dates from 1780.

The treasure of Saint-Waltrude is rich in a very rich collection of silversmiths (14th - 19th century). In particular, it reflects the mastery of the Mons goldsmiths. The reliquary statue of Saint German is the ultimate confirmation of the great reliquaries of goldsmith's art, made by artists.

Statue in polychrome wood representing Saint James as a pilgrim. Dressed in a wide tunic, he wears a pallium on his head and shoulders to protect himself against wind and weather. In his right hand, the saint holds the bag to which the “scallop” is attached. Restored by the IRPA in 1994-1995, the statue is again in the original polychrome: the body, a hand, a leg as well as the traces of gilt, which used to cover the statue completely.