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From, Beautiful Buildings in France & Belgium, Including many which have been destroyed during the war. Reproductions in Colour and Monochrome from rare old Prints and Drawings, by and after Prout, Boys, Coney, W. Callow, David Roberts, C. Wild and others, with descriptive notes, by C. Harrison Townsend, F.R.I.B.A.; New York: The Hubbell Publishing Co., 1916; pp. 114-117.


114


HUY :  CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME

(W. Clarkson Stanfield, R.A.)

Black and white drawing by W. Clarkson Stanfield, R.A. of  the Church of Notre Dame and the town of Huy, done in the 19th century.  The ancient Citadel, since demolished is on the hill in the background.



115

Huy

CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME

(W. Clarkson Stanfield, R.A.)

Block Print of the decorated letter HUY, that once delightful and fascinating town at the mouth of the River Hoyoux, has, alas! suffered much at the hands of the Prussians, and many of its streets lie in blackened heaps.

Though the XIIIth century gave rise to the purest and best Gothic in France, Belgium did not share to any extent the impulse then given to Church architecture. Her buildings of note were spread pretty evenly over the wider period stretching from the Xth to the XVIth centuries. And it is to the XIVth century that we owe the small but elegant church at Huy, shown in the 116 Plate. It is conceded to be one of the most beautiful and perfect examples in Belgium of the early part of that century, though portions of it show later work, renewed after a fire in the XVIth century.

The Citadel, shown in the background of Clarkson Stanfield’s sketch, crowned a hill which rose in terraces from the river bank, and, strengthened as it was by defences cut in the solid rock, was considered all but impregnable. In view, however, of the later system of Belgian frontier protection it was demolished some twenty years ago.



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Copyright  © 2007 by Elfinspell


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