A beguine community rose up by the St. Gertrude’s Abbey. This Small Beguinage is mentioned for the first time in 1272. The district consists of a street and two blind alleys where women who served in the nearby abbey lived. The small beguinage had few financial resources and the buildings rapidly fell into decay. The church, built in 1636, was demolished in 1862 and in 1954 the infirmary had to give way to the expanding Stella Artois brewery. In 2000, what remained of the Small Beguinage was thoroughly restored and sold to private individuals. Today some thirty houses in traditional Flemish style remain of the beguinage.
Filed under Faith Foundations, Heritage, Holidays, Leuven 2015
The Small Beguinage
8 Comments CherryPie on Jul 13th 2015
A new word The wiki explanation served well too.
I first came across the word when I visited Bruges in 2006. There is a lovely Beguinage there which is still inhabited by Benedictine Nuns
http://www.discoverflanders.com/beguinageofbruges.asp
I should have given a bit more background information. I will remedy that when I post about the Large Beguinage
Here are a couple of connected previous posts of mine:
http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2010/12/30/bruges-walking-tour-resumed/
http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2014/05/27/the-beguinage-church/
This place reminded me of Courtray.
I have not been but it does look a similar style.
Oh you can reach there easily from Lille.
One of Eurostar’s main stops in France too.
Revisiting Lille is on my list to do So maybe I will get the chance to visit Courtray
The district consists of a street and two blind alleys where women who served in the nearby abbey lived.
The sort of place one really must explore.
The women have long since gone…