Heilig Kruiskerk — Global Heshmat

Mural next to the Heilig Kruiskerk

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In memory of 23 Belgian missionaries murdered in Buta (Congo) in 1965, Hassan Heshmat was commissioned in 1970 by the Order of the Holy Cross to erect a memorial in Hasselt, Belgium. When models were submitted by various artists, his design appealed most to the jury. He produced the ceramics in his workshop in Cairo and flew them to Belgium. The memorial still stands today, however, the ceramic panels depicting the missionaries’ robes, are no longer there. But the priests heads, carved in bas-relief, are still in place.
KADOC, the interfaculty Documentation and Research Centre on Religion, Culture and Society at the KU Lueven, founded in 1976, has incorporated research results from Hegasy’s projects into their archive and database.