ECCE HOMO

ECCE HOMO

We leave the Market Square (Grote Markt) passing under the glass canopy leading into the Nieuwstraat. We follow this street to the first street corner, the junction with the Castrodreef. Here we find a small chapel with a statue of the suffering Christ, the so-called ‘Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)’.

The Roman governor Pontius Pilate is said to have spoken these words when he displayed Christ to the Jewish populace (John 19:5). The Fr. J. Sanchez de Castro y Toledo, esquire and Lady Ph.-A. de Neve commissioned the building of the small chapel in 1757. The sculptor of this polychrome statue is unknown, but he depicted the suffering Christ in a simple though true way.

The chapel dates from 1757, its floor plan is trapezoidal and the roof is covered with a three-sided monopitched roof. The middle bay of the front gable has a barred window and holds the statue, the left bay holds a diamond shaped bluestone memorial slab with the names of its donors F.J. Sanchez de Castro y Toledo de Hertoghe and Ph. A. De Neve. In the right bay, you can see the coat of arms of this noble family.

1757