St. Peter
The oldest building in Kempen and Viersen district: a Romanesque chapel said to date back to around 900 AD.
In Kempen, in the Viersen district, stands St. Peter, a Romanesque Catholic chapel. No other building in Kempen or the surrounding area of today's Viersen district dates back further.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Type
- Romanesque Roman Catholic chapel
- Location
- Kempen, Viersen district
- Building material
- rendered tuff stone blocks
- First mentioned
- 1085, in a document by Archbishop Siegwin of Cologne
- Distinction
- oldest building in Kempen and the present-day Viersen district
- Heritage status
- listed as a protected monument in Kempen since 1983
History
Oral tradition places its origins in the Carolingian period, around the year 900. Art historian Paul Clemen questioned this dating based on the masonry, suggesting a possible earlier wooden predecessor. As the oldest parish church in the Kempen region, it lost its parish rights in the 13th century to the newly built St. Mariae Geburt.
Architecture
The nave measures 15.90 m × 4.60 m, with its eastern half forming the oldest surviving part of the building. Around 1220, a straight-ended, vaulted choir (4.50 m × 4.60 m) replaced an earlier semicircular apse; its only exterior ornament is a round-arch frieze. To the south lies a Gothic baptismal chapel (5.80 m × 3.35 m) from the mid-14th century, opening onto the nave through a pointed-arch portal with a window. Its western section is covered by a groin vault, while an irregular star vault spans the eastern part.
Later Alterations and Wartime Events
After a lightning strike in 1610, the front section of the nave was rebuilt. A courtroom measuring 5 m × 4 m was added to the west, standing from around 1625 until its demolition in 1873. On 2 March 1945, Wehrmacht paratroopers put up militarily pointless machine-gun resistance against advancing US troops, resulting in at least four deaths and around 50 wounded.
Interior
After 1889, the wooden ceiling was painted by the workshop of Friedrich Stummel with depictions of sainted popes. The artwork is arranged into several panels, each containing three images placed side by side.
Gallery
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Sources & links
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-07-06
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