The choir stalls in St. Peter's Church date from the late Middle Ages. They are by the hand of Claes de Bruyne, the Brussels woodcarver who also made the famous Sedes Sapientiae statue in the church, and cabinetmaker Gort Goris. They were ordered by the chapter (the church council, so to speak) on 12 January 1439 and delivered three years later. City and chapter each paid half.

The choir stalls were constructed according to a classical scheme. On both sides of the choir were two rows of chairs. The back row was a bit higher than the front row, and had a back wall and an overhang. The rows were L-shaped: they had a short side on the side of the rood screen (the dividing wall between the choir and the nave). Those short sides later disappeared. Also, of the two rows, only one has survived, presumably the top one. This was reserved for canons, vicars, clerks and guests of honour who participated in the choir prayers. The bottom row that disappeared was more simply designed and intended for lower clergy.

The dragon is only one of the sculpted parts of the choir stalls – it probably served as an armrest. There are also the beautiful choir cheeks, the upright sides of the pews. Not to forget the little seats or 'misericordes': protrusions at the bottom of each seat against which you could lean when the seat was folded up. The seats are beautifully worked out – with moralistic motives, but also with contemporary, bizarre or mischievous scenes. Just look for the jester who pulls a crazy mouth and sticks out his tongue, the two-headed eagle, the veiled elderly woman peering out of a window, the mermaid, or the horned monster spreading his bat-like wings....

The choir stalls remained untouched until the French occupation at the end of the 18th century. They were sold on 3 August 1798 in a public auction. Until 1803 they remained almost intact; only the rear walls and the bottom row of benches were removed. But in the years that followed, the seat was largely dismantled. Thus 17 seats (the finely crafted protrusions against which you could lean when the chair was folded up) were moved to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. What remained was damaged during the two world wars. Of the ninety-six original seats, six rows of five seats each now remain.

Discover the choir stalls in 'Between Heaven and Earth - Experience 'The Last Supper' by Bouts', now on view at St. Peter's Church.