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Sint-Jan Baptist de la Salle Boxbergheide
Harp concert by Lise Vandersmissen.
Learn more about the building
Event Host Building
Sint-Jan Baptist de la Salle Boxbergheide
The parish church of Saint John Baptist de la Salle was built in 1961 in modernist style to the design of the Hasselt architect Louis Van De Vondel. And has been designated as architectural heritage by the Flemish Government since 2018.
The church with a ground plan based on parabolas and a monumental free-standing tower on a square ground plan was built in 1966-1967 against the flank of the Boxberg. This makes it seem to stand above the neighbourhood in the open field. The parish was newly founded in 1952 in the district of Boxbergheide.
The ground plan of the main building assembles from two parabolas: A large parabola in which the south-western-oriented nave is inscribed joins a second half-width parabola that extends behind the sacristy. This contains the north-eastern oriented chapel, which could be integrated into the nave. The church and tower are built in a concrete construction with ring beams, as a provision against mining damage.
The church still possesses some furniture from the Sint-Martinus church of Genk Centrum, which was bombed in 1944, among others a Gothic hardstone font from the 16th century, a neo-Gothic hardstone baptismal font from 1903, by P. Roemaat from Leuven. The Calvary group (1954-1956) attached to the wall behind the altar was sculpted by the Genk artist Raf Mailleux.
