Sint-Niklaaskerk Oostduinkerke

The St. Nicholas Church in Oostduinkerke was built in 1952 to a design by the architect Jean Gilson. It replaced the previous parish church, which was destroyed at the beginning of the Second World War.
Gilson provided a 38-metre-high western tower that is connected to the church building by means of galleries, which form an inner courtyard. The 13.5-metre-long statue of Christ on the tower of the St. Nicholas Church immediately attracts attention. The statue weighs no less than four tonnes and is the largest cast terracotta statue. It was designed, just like the 3.5-metre-high crucifix above the altar, by the Czech artist Arnost Gause.
Gilson built the church in a modern style, inspired by neo-Gothic. The church on the Witte Burg dune area between the village and the sea, is built with regional yellow bricks with the warm colours of the sand. The tower (38 m) evokes, among other things, the Flemish polder churches of Damme, Lissewege and Wulpen.
(Wikipedia)

Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, to whom the church in Oostduinkerke is dedicated, is - alongside Saint Martin - one of the most popular saints of all. His memorial day, December 6th, is probably known to almost every child in Belgium and Germany - and far beyond.
On the eve of this day, children used to put their shoes or boots - which had of course been carefully polished - in front of the door so that Saint Nicholas could fill them with gifts during the night. In more agricultural areas, it was also customary for children to put out a small gift of food for the donkey, Saint Nicholas's mount (according to another tradition, it was a white horse).

The Sint-Niklaas church was built to meet the increasing coastal tourism after WWII. Oostduinkerke needed a larger church close to the beach. Moreover, the Sint-Niklaas church in the village was completely destroyed in 1940 by the horrors of war. The construction of a new church on the connecting axis between the village and the sea would highlight the increasing importance of the seaside resort of Oostduinkerke-Bad. The special church was built in typical yellow Nieuwpoort brick.
All information can be read at the foot of the tall tower.