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This jewel of medieval architecture has a long history. Audomar (Omer), the saint who evangelised the region, bishop of Therouanne in the 7th century, built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the village of Sithiu in the marshes of the river Aa (future town of Saint-Omer), where he was buried.

Continuing his work, the canons built a romanesque church in the 11th century and it became an important artistic and interlectual centre. From the 13th century onwards i twas transformed and became an exceptional gothic building, one of the most sumptuous witnesses to gothic art, in the Northern Provinces.

In the 16th century the collegial church became a cathedral following the destruction, by Charles Quint, of the town and bishopric of Thérouanne, and the transfer of a part of the episcopal territory. But the decision to reinstate Arras as a bioshopric with the Concordat of 1801, relegated the cathedral to a simple church. In the 19th century, to honour the vitality of the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Miracles, Pope Puis IX gave it the title of Basilica.

Our Lady of Saint-Omer surprises also with the quantity and the quality of its furnishings : an impressive organ case, a very rare astrolobe clock, a “Descent of the Cross” by Rubens, without forgetting an important funeral patrimony, including the cenotaph of Saint Omer, the tomb of Saint Erkembode, ‘the saint who makes children walk’, or the Mausoleum of Eustache de Croy, a major work of J. Du Broeucq.

Patrimoines-Saint-Omer

Wikipedia