Guigoven

A late-12th century human head of stone now built into the front brick wall of Rood Kasteel, in Guigoven, may be the only remains of the baptismal font of the medieval church of Guigoven; that church had been demolished in 1850 and replaced by a new one on a new site. The wall-mounted head is noted and illustrated in Beeldbank [https://beeldbank.onroerenderfgoed.be/images/133781] [accessed 20 May 2024]. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 19 April 2024) notes: "The church of Guigoven is mentioned for the first time in 1096. It was located on the road to the village castle (Rood Kasteel), on the present cemetery. The first church was made of wood and clay; at an unknown date, it had been replaced by a Romanesque building, itself demolished around 1850 when a new church was built in the centre of the village. Above the entrance of the “Rood Kasteel”, in the façade of the tower, there is a lonely head of a late 12th century Romanesque Mosan font. No further information is available." Pol Herman (ibid.) further informs of another head, one called "Apollo-head", that is now present above the entrance of the chapel at the cemetery (on the site of the disappeared of the Romanesque church) [https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerkhofkapel_(Guigoven)] [accessed 19 May 2024]; this head is assumed to be a fragment of a Roman statue by the historians I contacted, and it is said to be similar to the head at the church of Vichten (Grand-Duché du Luxembourg)."