Visited in 2017
Duration of visit : 2 hours
Church of Decay
The famous Church of Decay really lives up to its name, with even entire trees growing out of the walls on the outside. Officially it is named Eglise Saint-Pierre and it’s located in Grâce-Hollogne, a small town next to the airport of Liege.
The church got built in the 1750’s, featuring a tower in Romanesque style from a church that stood here before. At the end of the 19th century, the church got expanded. Unfortunately, dry rot caused weaknesses in the structure, and the churched needed repairs several times. Eventually it had to close its doors in 1999. Since then, nature has started swallowing the structure, letting metres tall trees grow from the outer walls, weakening the church and determining its faith: demolition.
A form attached to the fences was already announcing the upcoming demolition on the day we visited the church. With the church being situated on a busy street, we chose an early morning for sneaking in. We hopped through the fence and under the cover of a tree we could climb through the window. What followed was a risky descend of 4 metres on a unstable ladder with missing steps and a rope down into the church.
In October 2017, just two months after our visit, demolition of the church started. It got dismantled piece by piece, preserving only the protected tower from the 12th century as a silent witness to a once famous location.
