Messines / Mesen
Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2008
Standing permission
Results: 2 records
view of font
Scene Description: the modern font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2008
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph by Colin Smith, April 2008, for BSI
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font and cover in context
Scene Description: the modern font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph by Colin Smith, April 2008, for BSI
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
INFORMATION
Font ID: 13518MES
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1928?
Font Century and Period/Style: 20th century (?), Modern
Church / Chapel Name: [Abbey Church of St. Nicholas]
Font Location in Church: [cf. FontNotes]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Nicholas of Myra
Church Notes: destroyed church listed in KIK-IRPA [ttps://balat.kikirpa.be/object/57364] [accessed 21 August 2025] -- Information from WARTOURS [Official Tour Operators to the Normandy Veterans' Association] page [http://www.wartours.com/mess.html] [accessed 18 April 2008]: "By 1917 all that remained of the original church was the crypt which was used as used by the Germans as a casualty post. Adolf Hitler was taken here when he was wounded during the battle"
Site Location: West-Vlaanderen / Flandre Ouest, Vlaanderen / Flandres, Belgium, Europe
Directions to Site: Located off the N314-N365 crossroads, between Armentières and Ypres/Ieper, NW of Lille (dir. Dunkerke), near (6 km) the French border
Font Notes:
Click to view
Baptismal font probably made in 1928 to replace the original that may have been disappeared when the Abbey church was destroyed in World War I. The present font is of unhappy design, combining a pseudo-Romanesque square cushion-capital basin with a moulded octagonal pedestal base. Low dome brass cover with finial.
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Smith for the photograph of this font
COORDINATES
UTM: 31U 492948 5623883
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 50.766667, 2.9
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50° 46′ 0″ N, 2° 54′ 0″ E