Sankt Katherinenkapelle, Chapel in Sankt Vith, Belgium.
Sankt Katherinenkapelle is a Romanesque hall chapel built of rough-cut light grey stone blocks under a steep dark slate roof, its gable topped by a small stone cross. A tall pointed-arched window and a shorter one flank a metal bell hung between them; along the side, round-arched windows alternate with small circular openings above a low stone base.
The chapel was damaged and destroyed several times, most recently during the Christmas days of 1944, when the whole town of Sankt Vith was bombed in connection with the Ardennes Offensive. It was rebuilt in 1948 and served for about ten years as the emergency church until the new Sint-Vituskerk was completed. A full restoration followed in 1984.
The chapel is named after Saint Catherine, whose statue survived the 1944 bombing and still stands inside. A crucifix found in the ruins by an American soldier was kept in a Sioux reservation until 2001, when it was returned to Sankt Vith and placed here.
The chapel stands in the town centre of Sankt Vith, rebuilt in 1948 after its destruction during the Ardennes offensive of December 1944. It served as the parish's emergency church for about ten years, until the new Sint-Vituskerk was completed. A full restoration followed in 1984. Visitors enter by the pointed-arched doorway near the lower right of the long side.
A wooden crucifix found in the town's ruins by an American soldier was taken to the United States and kept on a Sioux reservation until 2001, when it was returned to Sankt Vith and placed in the chapel. A statue of Saint Catherine also survives from the chapel bombed in 1944.
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