Sint-Albanuskerk

Rising above Vlijtingen, in the municipality of Riemst, the Church of Saint Alban watches over the village from its height, ringed by its old churchyard. The parish is very ancient — it probably already existed in the seventh or eighth century — and belonged to the eleven "banks" of Saint Servatius, with the chapter of Saint Servatius in Maastricht as its patron.

The former Romanesque church was demolished in 1844. The tower of the present Neoclassical building rose in 1840, the rest in 1845-1846. It is a brick church with corner blocks and frames of marlstone and blue hardstone, with an engaged west tower, a nave of three vessels in six bays and a semicircular choir. On 10 May 1940 the blast of a bomb badly damaged it; in the 1945 restoration the wooden roof lantern was replaced by an identical one in reinforced concrete.

Within, the choir carries a gallery on Ionic columns supporting a domed vault. The Baroque oak pulpit, from the first half of the eighteenth century, is borne by a figure of Saint John; the organ is the work of the Sint-Truiden builder Arnold Clerinx (1852). A silver monstrance recalls the plundering suffered during the Battle of Lauffeld (1747): the parish priest Wijckmans obtained compensation from Louis XV that allowed its purchase. The church is protected heritage.