St. Salvator's Church
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Geographic coordinates | 52°05′25″N 5°07′18″E / 52.0903°N 5.1217°E |
| Affiliation | Catholic Church |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Status | demolished |
| Materials | Tuff |
The Sint-Salvator church (also called the Old-Munster church) was one of five Catholic Church collegiate churches in Utrecht, Netherlands, before the Protestant Reformation. The others were St. Martin's Cathedral (the present-day Dom Church), St. Peter's Church, St. John's church and St. Mary's church. The church building was situated on the present-day Domplein and was demolished during the Protestant Reformation, after the 1587 outlawing of Catholicism in the Dutch Republic.
The exact history of first church building is not known but it was possibly built c. 695 and its presence was definitely established by 724. It was established by Willibrord, after he had received his mission from Pope Sergius I. The patron saint of the church, Salvator, is a possible reference to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the ecclesiastical seat of the Pope and the mother church of the Catholic Church, as this church was at first also dedicated to St. Salvator. The name Salvator means savior and is a direct reference to Jesus the Savior.
During World War II, the former church building location was subject to an archaeological excavation. At the site of the former crossing, on the axis of the church, wall remnants and limestone sarcophagi were found. From the positioning of the remnants it was concluded that the eastern annex of the church had been found. By studying the groundplan of the second church which included a very broad and extremely short nave and a heavy tower, the dimensions of the connecting hall were deduced. The original church was a 12 by 18 metres (39 ft × 59 ft) rectangular single-nave building with an attached 9 by 12 metres (30 ft × 39 ft) rectangular annex on the east side. The excavation showed that the annex, which contained many tombs within its walls, may have been a grave chapel and possibly a choir.
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