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Lambertus Church
In the heart of Maastricht, a traditional exterior with a modern interior twist.
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The church was constructed between 1913 and 1916, making it the first parish church built in Maastricht after the Middle Ages and the first outside the former city walls. Because Maastricht remained a fortress city until 1867 and experienced relatively slow population growth in the 19th century compared to other cities, the city's expansion into the former ring of fortifications occurred relatively late. Almost the entire Brusselsepoort neighborhood was built on the demolished outer works of the Hoge Fronten. This area also includes the "kazematten," an underground network of defensive tunnels and bombproof rooms. Since these tunnels were not filled in, the ground remained unstable, leading to subsidence in various parts of the neighborhood, including around the Sint-Lambertuskerk.
The Sint-Lambertuskerk was built on leveled ground at the end of Brusselsestraat, where the couvre-faces Raad van State and Louise once stood. The construction pastor was J.M. Souren, and the design was by architect Hubert van Groenendael from 's-Hertogenbosch. Contractor W. Erven only laid the foundations; the further construction was carried out in-house. The cornerstone was laid by Monsignor Menten on May 3, 1914, a few months before the outbreak of World War I. The use of inferior building materials due to wartime shortages may have contributed to later structural problems. The church doors were made from wood taken from a German emergency bridge over the Meuse at Lieze (French: Lixhe) in August 1914, which washed ashore at Sint Pieter.
To prevent demolition, the church was nominated as a monument in 1997, and a new purpose was sought. The Diocese of Roermond sold the church to the housing association Servatius, which commissioned an investigation into the subsidence issues. This investigation utilized a construction worker's report from the original building period and diary entries from various pastors, alongside laser scanning techniques. Several proposals were submitted for the church's reuse, including converting it into an urn cemetery and making it the headquarters of Servatius. However, these plans were abandoned, partly due to the 2007-2011 financial crisis and the failure of the Calatrava campus project in 2009. During the same period, multiple grant applications for restoration were rejected by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, primarily due to the high costs. In 2009, the government eventually allocated 3.8 million euros as part of a package of measures to combat the financial crisis. The extensive restoration, led by the architectural firm Boosten Rats, began in early 2010 and was completed in November 2012.
In 2016, the church was acquired by a new private owner, who renovated the interior to include a residence, a research center with laboratories, and a semi-public hall for cultural activities. The laboratory is currently leased to the Maastricht-based company Synapse.
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