The great church or Our Lady Church
A smaller church had first stood at the site of the current church,. A new church was built in the middle of the 14th century. Only the bottom of the tower remains of this today. After its elevation to collegiate church in 1409, considerable building activities took place. After the city fire of 1452, work started on the construction of the current nave and transept. Probably under the direction of master builder Evert Spoorwater.
In the second half of the 16th century, the Reformation had an increasing effect on Tholen. The church was ‘broken into pieces’. The gateway, that must have been richly decorated with sculptures, was completely stripped of them. In 1577 the church passed into the hands of the Protestants.
The more than 100 gravestones are certainly worth seeing, the oldest of which dates from 1421. Mummies are housed in a cellar below the north gate. These are the naturally preserved remains of members of the Van Vrijberghe family, who held posts on the city council in the 17th and 18th century.
Guesthouse Chapel
(Kerkstraat 15) The guesthouse, dedicated to St Lawrence, was founded in 1312 for the provision of accommodation to poor travellers. The chapel of the guest house was built shortly after the big city fire of 1452. During the Eighty Years’ War, soldiers were nursed here and the chapel was also used as a storage room. The chapel was again used for housing wounded soldiers in 1747. In 1631 the chapel was sold to a carpenter. The chapel was later split into three separate houses. In the 1970s, these houses were restored and converted back into a single chapel.