Eekhoutabdij - algemeen zicht - Brugge - België

Eekhout Abbey ( nl, Eekhoutabdij) was a medieval house of

Augustinian Canons Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

History

The origin of the abbey, dedicated to

Saint Bartholomew Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو� ...

, was traditionally linked to the religious community that had grown up round the cell of the

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

Everelmus in about 1050, although the first reference dates only from 1130. In or around 1146 it joined the

Arrouaisian Order The Abbey of Arrouaise in northern France was the centre of a form of the canons regular, canonical life known as the Arrouaisian Order, which was popular among the founders of canonry, canonries during the decade of the 1130s. The community began ...

, and in consequence adopted the Rule of St. Augustine and became an abbey, under the first abbot, Lambertus. The men's and women's communities which had previously coexisted here were separated: the women were moved to premises in Odegem (now Steenbrugge) where their community developed into St. Trudo's Abbey (still extant and housed since 1954 in

Male Castle Maele Castle, Bruges Maele Castle ( nl, Grafelijk Slot van Male) is a former castle in Male, Belgium, Male, once a separate village, now part of Sint-Kruis, a suburb of Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium. The buildings, almost entirely rebuilt and rest ...

), while the men remained on the existing site near the centre of Bruges. After centuries of decline, the abbey was dissolved in the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

Dispersal

In 1803, after being sold off as state property, the abbey was entirely demolished by its French purchaser Rousseau, except for a single doorway onto the Eekhoutstraat, which still stands. Isolated plots which were connected to their property in the Garenmarkt came into the hands of the Du Jardin family. After the failure of their family business, the Bank Du Jardin, in 1874 a large part of their property here came into the possession of the Sisters of the Sint-Andreasinstituut, who had a school built on it. The site of the former abbey is now occupied by the

Groeningemuseum The Groeningemuseum is a municipal museum in Bruges, Belgium, built on the site of the medieval Eekhout Abbey. It houses a collection of Flemish and Belgian painting covering six centuries, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers. The museum ...

References

;Bibliography * Bossuyt, S, 2003: ''De eremiet Everelmus en de stichting van de Eeckhoutabdij te Brugge (ca. 1052-1150)''. Bruges: Handelingen van het Genootschap voor Geschiedenis te Brugge 140, pp.179-201 * Huyghebaert, N.N., 1970: ''Abbaye de Saint-Trond à Odegem, Bruges et Male'' in ''Monasticon Belge'', IV, dl. 4, Liège, pp. 1028-1031 {{coord, 51, 12, 18.73, N, 3, 13, 46.28, E, type:landmark, display=title Christian monasteries in West Flanders Augustinian monasteries in Belgium Demolished buildings and structures in Belgium Former buildings and structures in Belgium Buildings and structures in Bruges Buildings and structures demolished in 1803