In a Gothic church, light, music and proportions play an important role. The high vaulted ceiling and pointed arches draw the eye upwards, towards heaven. Light filters through colourful stained-glass windows, creating an atmosphere of mystery and silence. It symbolises God's presence, which touches us without us being able to see Him. Music, often carried by the organ or choir singing, fills the space with sound and prayer. It lifts the heart and makes room for wonder and reflection.
The proportions of the building are carefully chosen: high, light and open. Everything in the Gothic church is intended to detach man from the earthly, to point to the divine, the eternal, the greater than ourselves. A Gothic church is not just a building, but an experience of faith in stone, light and sound.
Words can clarify and communicate a great deal, but sometimes words fall short. With poetry, we can reach a little further and see meanings in other perspectives. Music takes us even further, touches us in a different way, touches our emotions. A melody has a great impact on the heart. When you bring words, their poetic power and music together in a visual context, you appeal to a person in their entirety, in their mind, their dreams and their emotions. Pope John Paul II pointed out that music brings us closer to God.
Music is timeless. Every period has its own style and mentality. The Church has always cherished music, from the slow, meditative style of Gregorian chant to the contemporary Arvo Pärt.
It is therefore evident that music plays a major role in our cathedral. Peter Benoît is a great example of this, but today too, a great deal of attention is paid to music. The cathedral has several organs, including the majestic Schijven organ and a simpler Metzler organ. This allows organists to perform a very wide range of music. Titular organist Peter Van de Velde, chapel master Sebastiaan van Steenberge and mezzo-soprano Anastasiia Staroselska bring the Gothic cathedral to life with music – with sounds that rise up the stone pillars, echo under the high vaulted ceiling and touch the light that falls through the stained-glass windows like a blessing from above.
