Eibergen

A medieval [ca. 1250?] baptismal font of Baumberg sandstone in this church is reported and illustrated in De Oude Mattheüs op de radar [https://www.pkneibergen-rekken.nl/images/documenten/DOMopderadar.pdf] [accessed 13 November 2021]: "De kerk beschikt over een heel oud doopvont. Doopvonten, zoals deze zijn in Nederland zeer zeldzaam. Het is gehouwen uit Baumberger zandsteen, dat gevonden wordt bij de bron van het riviertje de Berkel. De maker ervan moet een steenhouwer uit Westfalen zijn geweest (+/- 1250)" In a communication to BSI (e-mail of 12 November 2021) Pol Herman informs: This font was apparently buried beneath the flooring until it was discovered in 1971 and, remarkably enough, it does not come from Bentheim, but was hewn in Baumberger sandstone further south, near Havixbeck. Attached to the communication from Pol Herman were details from an interview with Henk Lamers, stonemason, restorer of the font, in “De Deventer Steenhouwerij”: "Then I have to go back quite a few years because I had to run the company from 1979 to 2011 and so I hardly had a hammer and chisel in my hands and I supervised construction projects from 2011 to now and I was involved in purchasing and sales. In 1973 – 1974 we were busy with the restoration of the Old Mattheüs Church in Eibergen. During the removal of the old sandstone floor tiles, we accidentally found a baptismal font of sandstone in the sand under the floor, which was then excavated and transported to our workshop in Winterswijk, (weight approx. 2200 kg). It was badly damaged but had a lot of historical value. By order of the then church board we had to make a quotation for restoration and we got the order. I was allowed to carry out this restoration personally. Among other things the profiled edge with floral pattern was heavily spoiled and about 75% of that edge was missing, furthermore it had a lot of damage . I have restored the baptismal font by means of stabilisation of pieces of sandstone and by the filling of missing parts with Jahn repair mortar. Then the floral pattern was drawn again and cut out. I worked on it for about 3 to 4 weeks, I was very satisfied with the result."