Petrus and Pauluskerk, Everdingen

Behind the Lek Dike in Everdingen lies the 19th Century Petrus and Pauluskerk. Together with the presbytery and coach house, a school building and a teachers’ house, the church forms a special ensemble of neo-Gothic brick buildings. Just like the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Vianen, the church and presbytery were designed by the Utrecht architect Alfred Tepe.

After the Reformation, the Catholic faith was temporarily banned by law. To profess their faith, many Catholics used clandestine churches or barn churches. These churches were not recognisable as churches from the outside. In Everdingen, where many Catholics lived, the faithful were at first dependent on the masses of itinerant priests. From 1628 onwards, many Everdingen residents went to church in Vianen.

There was a great need for their own church. At the end of the 18th Century, Everdingen received a church room in a farmhouse next to the Reformed church and, after a long period of saving, a barn church was constructed in the year 1802. The bell tower containing a clock from the Amaliastein country estate is the only thing that points to it being a church building. Between 1876 and 1899, the barn church was replaced by the current Petrus and Pauluskerk and presbytery. Despite the small size of the church, the architect Alfred Tepe designed it as a 3-aisle pseudo-basilica.

Further reading: Lek dike, Everdingen village centre, Vianen Municipal Museum, Vianen Catholic Church, Amaliastein.