Église Saint-Georges, Catholic church in Marloie, Belgium.
The Église Saint-Georges is a Catholic church in Marloie, part of Marche-en-Famenne, built in 1954 to a modernist design by local architect Victor Sarlet. Its 30-metre brick campanile stands beside a cream-coloured facade bearing a 1955 mosaic of Christ the King by French artist Maurice Rocher, flanked by eight figures including Saint George, Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The interior holds copper statues by Zéfir Busine and Georges Boulmant, stained glass by Louis-Marie Londot, and an organ from the 1958 Brussels World's Fair.
A church at Marloie is cited in Pope Innocent II's bull Omne datum optimum of 1139; the oldest building traces date to a 17th-century chapel on the site of the present church. The parish was formally erected on 28 April 1895 with Abbé Antoine Daras as first priest, and the church was enlarged in 1905 after the Namur–Arlon railway opened. On 21 May 1944 an Allied aircraft hit a German train carrying 450 tonnes of TNT at Marloie station, killing 42 people and wrecking the church, which was rebuilt in concrete from 1954 and consecrated on 17 October 1956 by Bishop Charue.
The parish is placed under the patronage of Saint Isidore, and the church keeps a 1606 sculpted keystone from the old chapel, now set into a small Saint-Isidore chapel rebuilt in 1977 near the Gerny plateau. The room to the right of the main entrance, originally the baptistery, is now the "Abbé Daras" room, named after the first parish priest, used for catechism and as a library.
The church stands on the main road through Marloie, in the Marche-en-Famenne municipality. The entrance is on the front facade, under the mosaic of Christ the King; the former baptistery, now the "Abbé Daras" room used for catechism and as a library, is to the right of the main door. The 30-metre campanile rises on the left.
The 30-metre campanile holds three bells: two, dedicated to Saint Isidore and Saint Anthony, were recovered from the church destroyed in 1944, while the 950 kg bourdon, consecrated to Mary of the Assumption, was cast in 1955.
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