page_title: Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht
section_title: Description exterior
hierarchical_section_title: Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht / Description exterior
caption_attribution_description: English: Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht, the Netherlands. Romanesque capital at the exterior of the apse, depicting two birds pecking at grapes and sea creatures facing out of the capital.
context_page_description: The Basilica of Our Lady is a Romanesque church in the historic center of Maastricht, Netherlands. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption and is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Diocese of Roermond. The church is often referred to as the Star of the Sea, after the church's main devotion, Our Lady, Star of the Sea.
context_section_description: The building is largely Romanesque in style and is considered an important example of the Mosan group of churches that are characterized by massive westworks and pseudo-transepts. Our Lady's in Maastricht indeed has a tall, massive westwork and two pseudo-transepts on each side. The westwork, built of carbonic sandstone, dates from the early 11th century and is flanked by two narrow towers with marlstone turrets. Some spolia, probably from the former Roman castrum of Maastricht, were used on the lower parts of the westwork. The nave with its transept and pseudo-transepts largely dates from the second half of the 11th century.
  The church has two choirs and two crypts. The east choir dates from the 12th century and is decorated with carved Romanesque capitals (several of which are 19th-century copies). The east crypt is a century older. During the building campaign the original plan for the eastern part of the church was abandoned and a new scheme, based on the newly finished choir of St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège, adopted. The current, heavily-restored choir towers are roofed with Rhenish helms of stone rather than shingling. One of the towers, named after Saint Barbara, was used for storage of the city archives and the church treasury.
  A 13th-century Gothic portal, rebuilt in the 15th century, provides access to the church from Onze Lieve Vrouweplein. It is also the entrance of the so-called Mérode chapel (or Star of the Sea chapel).
caption: Romanesque capital of the apse
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