Linkebeek

Described and illustrated in Jean-Claude Ghislain's 'La cuve baptismale romane de style Ardennais de Linkebeek (Brabant)', Annales du cercle historique et folklorique de Braine-le-Château, Tubize et des régions voisines, volume VIII, 1988-1993, p. 153-175. The old font here is listed and illustrated in BALaT KIK-IRPA [https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/11015310] [accessed 23 December 2023] citing Ghislain [cf. supra] with date [basin only] "1101 - 1200" for the basin; 1947 for the replacement base, and 1948 for the metal font cover by Auguste Guaisnet. The entry for this church in the Inventaris Onroerend Erfgoed [https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/40018] [accessed 23 December 2023] reports the discovery of an old Romaneque font during the 1948 excavations ["Na 1778 worden er geen grote, ingrijpende werken meer uitgevoerd aan de kerk. Wel te vermelden is de ontdekking van de oude romaanse doopvont bij werken in de doopkapel in 1948. Hiervoor werd omstreeks 1960 een nieuwe doopkapel ter hoogte van de inkom gebouwd, aan de noordelijke gevel"]. The entry for this church in the Belgian Wikipedia [https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Sebastiaanskerk_(Linkebeek)] [accessed 23 December 2023] reports a baptismal font of the 'Celtic-Romanesque' period in it ["De ‘Keltisch-Romaanse’ doopvont dateert uit deze tijd"]. The old basin is round with tapering sides; four human heads are located at 90-degree angles on the sides; the panels between the heads are identified in this source as: a Tree of Life and palmettes, grapes, a mask and a snake biting its tail; the font cover is divided into quartes, each containing a symbol of an Evangelist. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 13 April 2023) informs: "Linkebeek. Sint-Sebastiaan. The triangular shape of the village centre (the “dries”) and the location of the church point to the great age of the village. Little is known about the church buildings before 1773. The church is located on a higher place where there was a fortified watchtower with crypt, built before the year 1000. The origin of a house of worsh ip must be situated after 900 and before 1190. Linkebeek was located in the diocese of Cambrai. In 1190, the abbot of Cambrai donated the chapel of Linkebeek to the convent of Vorst. As a daughter of the church of Sint-Genesius-Rode, she had no right to baptize. At the beginning of the 13th century, at the time of the independence of the parish, a rectangular space was built in white stone in the Romanesque style, to the east of the tower. After the visit of Charles the Bold in 1469, a Gothic building in white sandstone was erected. Many renovations and enlargements followed. In 1572 the dean observed that there were enough ornaments in the church. At the baptismal font, there was a piscina. Nothing was profaned by the Protestants. The church was probably destroyed in 1585, when Olivier van de Tympel, the Calvinist governor of Brussels from 1579 to 1586, had several churches in the Brussels area attacked. In 1599, the dean mentions that the church was desecrated in the sixteenth century. In 1773 the tower was rebuilt, slightly more westwards than before. In 1778 the church was completely rebuilt, reusing the existing stones, supplemented with bricks. In 1947, while carrying out works in the baptistery, a well-preserved basin of a Romanesque baptismal font was found, laying on its side, under the floor, against the wall. However, the base and the columns disappeared without a trace. Reference : Jean-Claude Ghislain, , 'La cuve baptismale romane de style Ardennais de Linkebeek (Brabant)', Annales du cercle historique et folklorique de Braine-le-Château, Tubize et des régions voisines, volume VIII, 1988-1993, p. 153-175"