Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht

The Basilica of Our Lady (Basiliek van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw, Limburgish: Slevrouwe [sləˈvʀɔwə]) is a Romanesque church in the historic center of Maastricht, Netherlands. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Tenhemelopneming) and is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Diocese of Roermond. The church is often referred to as the Star of the Sea (Sterre der Zee), after the church's main devotion, Our Lady, Star of the Sea.

The present-day church is probably not the first church that was built on this site. However, since no archeological research has ever been carried out inside the building, nothing certain can be said about this. The church's site, inside the Roman castrum and adjacent to a religious shrine dedicated to the god Jupiter, suggests that the site was once occupied by a Roman temple. It is not unlikely that the town's first church was built here and that this church in the 4th or 5th century became the cathedral of the diocese of Tongeren-Maastricht. Some time before the year 1100 the church became a collegiate church, run by a college of canons. The canons were appointed by the prince-bishop of Liège. The provosts were chosen from the chapter of St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liège. The chapter of Our Lady's had around 20 canons, which made it a middle-sized chapter in the diocese of Liège. Until the end of the chapter in 1798 it maintained its strong ties with Liège. Parishioners of Our Lady's were identified in old documents as belonging to the Familia Sancti Lamberti. It is clear that the chapter of Saint Servatius was the more powerful institution in Maastricht, with strong ties to the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, but throughout the Middle Ages the two churches remained rivals.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).