Nos événements

The Church of Saint Martin forms the heart of Westvleteren, a village in the municipality of Vleteren. The parish arose in 1076, together with that of Oostvleteren, and in 1197 the right of patronage passed to the Abbey of Watten. Parts of the original Romanesque church in ironstone still survive within the later late-Gothic construction.

It is a three-aisled hall church with a transept and crossing tower, built of yellow brick in which red brick forms a decorative masonry pattern. The square tower bears a tall needle spire. In the first half of the eighteenth century the church was partly rebuilt.

The interior preserves a rich heritage spanning centuries: a painted panel from around 1700 showing Jesus meeting Veronica, and the Episcopal Consecration of Saint Martin from the second half of the sixteenth century. There are also an alabaster statue of Saint Roch from about 1650, portico altars from the late sixteenth century and 1634, eighteenth-century confessionals, a pulpit and a communion rail with twenty-two carved panels. The church is listed in the inventory of architectural heritage.