Church of St Nicholas, Messines

View of the church taken from Rue Courte et Belle (Korte Mooiestraat). c.1914...The church originally served as an abbey church for the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Messines and was erected by Countess Adela of France. It has a 11th century roman crypt where Countess Adela was buried on 8th January 1079. Adela was the daughter of the French King Robert II (the Pious) and Constance of Arles. She was married twice, first to Richard III, Duke of Normandy and then to Baldwin V (Count of Flanders). The crypt, where the Germans installed their headquarters, was restored in 1931 in its original state after the devastations of World War I. The Church itself was restored in 1928 to its pre-war state.