Maria Chapel
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2025) |
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (May 2025) |
The Maria Chapel is a former chapel in Hoorn, the Netherlands. It was part of the Maria convent between 1408 and 1573, with an initial wooden construction. It served as a church and orphanage from 1574 to 1958, and then was used as part of the city hall until 1977. The chapel construction in its current form hosts a hotel and an artist-in-residence program by the non-profit organization Hotel Maria Kapel, with exhibition space and cinema for contemporary visual art in the city centre of Hoorn.[1][2][3]
History
[edit]The chapel was consecrated in 1435, and was part of the medieval cloister complex situated in the ancillary buildings around the courtyard. From 1508, only the Maria Chapel from the original complex has remained. During the Reformation, the Council of Delegates of West-Friesland started using the chapel as an arsenal since 1573. From 1825 till 1877, the chapel was used as a Roman Catholic vhurch, during which time a number of renovations were done, including the construction of the present entrance on the Korte Achterstraat.
On July 1, 1877 a large fire occurred in the Catharina Chapel, the Maria Chapel, and in the adjacent orphanage, which was preserved with great difficulty. Of the Maria Chapel, only the walls and the entrance on the Korte Achterstraat were spared. The vault, roof and tower are completely destroyed. In 1882 the Reformed Church took over the ruins, built the current roof and made other repairs in order for the chapel to be used again. In 1976 the chapel is again in the hands of the municipality of Hoorn. That year the chapel was briefly used by local youth as a disco and boxing school. In the 1990s, the building underwent its most recent major renovation and assumed its current form.[3]
Modern use
[edit]A group of artists started using the building since 1983, organising activities and opening it to the public. From 1996 until 2002 the Sandberg Institute, the Masters of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, used the chapel and the adjacent buildings (the former orphanage) as an exhibition space and guesthouse for students. It was in this period that the sculpture on the roof was made by Florian Göttke and Sabine Käppler,.
References
[edit]- ^ "Sights to see in Hoorn". Local Guide Hoorn.
- ^ "Hoorn's Religious Heritage walk: religious statues and wall panels". Vereniging Oud Hoorn.
- ^ a b "About HMK". Hotel Maria Kapel. Hotel Maria Kapel.
 | This article needs additional or more specific categories. (May 2025) |