Mechelen Cathedral

St. Rumbold's Cathedral ( nl, Sint-Romboutskathedraal, french: Cathédrale Saint-Rombaut) is the Roman Catholic metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium, dedicated to Saint Rumbold, Christian missionary and martyr who had founded an abbey nearby. His remains are rumoured to be buried inside the cathedral. State-of-the-art examination of the relics honoured as Saint Rumbold's and kept in a shrine in the retro-choir, showed a life span of about 40 years and a death date between 580 and 655, while tradition had claimed 775 AD.The abbey founded by St. Rumbold in the 6th, 7th or 8th century and a 9th century St. Rumbold's abbey church subordinate to the bishops of Liège are assumed to have been located in the ''Holm'', higher grounds a little outside the later city walls of Mechelen. A 9th century St. Rumbold's Chapel in the city centre stood till 1580, was rebuilt in 1597 and demolished in 1798. After Prince-Bishop Notger's founding of the St. Rumbold's Chapter around 1000, an adjacent collegiate church was built and its parish title was handed to the chapter in 1134. Most likely on its spot, already from around the next turn of the century onwards the well known St. Rumbold's Church was built, consecrated in 1312, and promoted to cathedral in 1559. This edifice never belonged to the abbey.

In 1999, the tower of the cathedral was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, in recognition of its architecture and its importance in civic duties such as a watchtower.

Construction

Construction of the church itself started shortly after 1200, and it was consecrated in 1312, when part had become usable. From 1324 onwards the flying buttresses and revised choir structure acquired Brabantine Gothic characteristics, distinct from French Gothic. After the city fire of 1342, the Master Mason Jean d'Oisy managed repairs and continued this second phase, which by the time of his death in 1375 formed the prototype for that High Gothic style. His successors finished the vaults of the nave by 1437, and those of the choir by 1451.

During the final phase of 1452–1520, the tower was erected, financed by pilgrims and later by its proprietor, the city. Designed to reach 600 Mechlinian feetThe original designer of St. Rumbold's tower may have been Jan II Keldermans, Andries I Keldermans, or Wouter Coolman
(Source retrieved 25 July 2011)
. The now obsolete local foot came to 27.8 centimetres, roughly an inch shorter than the 30.48-cm long current British and American measure. or about 167 metres, higher than any church tower would ever attain ( Ulm Minster has measured 161 metres since the 19th century), the very heavy St. Rumbold's tower was built on what had once been wetlands, though with foundations only three metres deep its site appears to have been well-chosen. After a few years, in 1454, its chief architect Andries I Keldermans constructed the Saint Livinus' Monster Tower (or ''St.-Lievensmonstertoren'' as it is called in Dutch) in Zierikzee (in the present-day Netherlands), where leaning or sagging of the tower (now 62 metres but designed for ca. 130) could wreck the church. This concern led to fully separate edifices, a solution also applied in Mechelen. At both places, in the early 16th century the upper part of the tower was abandoned, not for technical but for financial reasons. St-Rumbold's should have been topped by a 77-metre spire but only seven metres of this were built, hence the unusual shape. A deliberately weak connection closed the gap between tower and church upon finishing the construction.

The church has functioned as a cathedral since 1559. In the 18th century, each capital's surrounding ornament of sculpted cabbage leaves, that had been an inspiration for numerous Brabantine Gothic churches, was replaced with a double ring of crops. In 2005, after engineers had figured out the support capacity of ground and tower, there was talk of completing the entire spire from the original drawings.

St. Rumbold's Tower

The flat-topped silhouette of the cathedral's tower is easily recognizable and dominates the surroundings. For centuries it held the city documents, served as a watchtower, and could sound the fire alarm.
Despite its characteristic incompleteness, this World Heritage monumentUNESCO World Heritage, see its list of sites in Europe; rather misleadingly categorized with other kinds of bell-towers under ''Belfries'' of Belgium and France [ref.&nbs
whc.unesco.org: ID 943 016 St. Rumbolds Tower
/ref>
is 97.28 metres high and its 514 steps are mounted by thousands of tourists every year, following the footsteps of Louis XV, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon, Albert I of Belgium, King Albert I, and Baudouin of Belgium, King Baudouin with Queen Fabiola of Belgium, queen Fabiola in 1981.

Many of the region's cities have a nickname for their populace. The Mechlinians are said to have had ancestors running up their great Tower and passing on buckets of water to extinguish a blazing fire behind the perpendicular windows, where it turned out to be mere moonlight through sprightly clouds, hence are called ''Maneblussers'' ('Moon Extinguishers').bells