St Willibrordus is a basilica located in the center of the fortress city of Hulst in the east of Zeelandic Flanders, the Netherlands. The church is dedicated to the missionary St. Willibrord, often called the apostle of the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). Although the nave dates from the 13th to 15th centuries, the central tower was destroyed several times, most recently in the Second World War. The current tower's modern appearance dates from the 1950s. The church contains the painting The Good Samaritan by Jan Baptist Maes (1794–1856) from Ghent. The scenes of the Way of the Cross were painted by Jan Jozef Deloose (1769–1849) from Sint-Niklaas. The frames are by the Ghent sculptor P. Pauwels. Exterior The first small Romanesque church building was erected around 1200 at the foot of a mote. In the first half of the 15th century it was replaced by a church in Gothic style, more precisely in Brabantine Gothic. The striking crossing tower was also built during that period. From 1462 the church was rebuilt to its current form under the supervision of the master builder Everaert Spoorwater. When a fire broke out during the works, the tower and the nave were completely reduced to ashes, as well as the newly built choir. Due to the death of Spoorwater, the works were only restarted on 3 May 1481, this time under the supervision of the Antwerp architect Herman de Waeghemazeker. He engaged Matthijs II Keldermans (from 1482 to 1484) for the construction of the main door. The construction of the church was completed by his great-nephew Laurens II Keldermans (ca. 1534), and it was completed in 1535. The main entrance to the basilica is located in the west façade on the Steenstraat side. At the top of this façade in a niche is a statue of Saint Willibrord with a gilded church tower in his hands. Unlike the choir church, the nave is not equipped with flying buttresses and buttresses. The bases for the flying buttresses are built of masonry. During the restoration of the 1930s, vaults were built under the original wooden ceiling in the nave. The lateral pressure that these exert on the masonry is absorbed by means of tension rods. Ledestone is a fairly soft limestone type that is easy to work, but has the disadvantage that it is highly susceptible to erosion. The spire is made of