Anvers, Belgium: St Paul's Church

 

A church was located in Anvers Belgium as early as 1276. Flooding from the nearby river prompted a move which was completed with a new church in 1571. A monastery (Dominican) was added about this same time. Calvinism displaced Catholicism only a few years later and massive changes were undertaken in the structure of St Paul's. The dominant religion changed again in 1585, and work resumed on the monastery between 1605 and 1616 and completed by 1662. Pieter Verbrugghen created much of the wood furnishings in the church, including the organ case in the 1650's. The instrument itself was built by Nicholas van Haeghen. The most recent work on the instrument seems to have been done 1993-1996. My card is in black and white and has been used. the stamp and cancel are on the image side of the card. This makes reading the date of the cancellation difficult: all I can make out is 191-. The stamp is a common Belgian issue from that era. It was sent to St Petersburg, Russia. There is no message on the card per se, only a name and address: L Severin, 43 Rue de la Voile, Anvers. I do not know who this may be.