The lectern and the great candlesticks
Among the brasswork in the choir, first look at the lectern. Its bookrest is the only medieval brass element still preserved in the collegiate church. Dating from the 15th century, it originally belonged to a Paschal candlestick. Its delicate network of Gothic lancets surrounds the monogram of Christ. In 1731, this older piece was reused to create the present lectern.
Around it stand six great candlesticks, 1.85 metres high, made of cast brass. They were not made as a single set, but as three pairs donated successively during the 17th century. The first, dated 1629, belonged to the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament; the second, from 1640, to the Confraternity of the Virgin. The third was donated in 1668 by a mayor of Dinant and his wife.
From 15th-century Gothic to 17th-century Baroque, these objects bear witness to the long tradition of Dinant’s brassworkers.