Count Chapel

About

The Count Chapel, also called Catherine Chapel, is a 14th century chapel in the Belgian city of Kortrijk, part of the Our Lady Church. It was built by order of Count Louis of Male after the example of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria. On the walls are the portraits of the graves of Flanders painted. In 2022, the last masses were ordered in the Gravenkapel and she was taken for a multimedia projection of the Golden Trajectories, as part of Kortrijk 1302.

History: Three papal charters from 1371 mention the chapel that Louis of Male had built in Kortrijk, dedicated to the saint who was then celebrated on his birthday, November 29, 1330. Later, Catharina's holiday shifted to November 25th. The start of the construction works may therefore probably be made shortly before 1370. The buildings were built in Brabant's gothic style. The conception of the Count Chapel is inspired by the upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle, inaugurated in 1248 in Paris, with four bays, or walls consisting of blind walls and large glass panes above. Louis of Male chose...