Holy Corner (Ghent Béguinage)

The Holy Corner (English for the Oud begijnhof) or Old Saint Elisabeth is a beguinage in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of three beguinages in the city – the other two are the new Saint Elisabeth beguinage in the suburb of Sint-Amandsberg and Our Lady Ter Hooyen in the Lange Violettenstraat. Both Saint Elisabeth beguinages were named after Elisabeth of Hungary, also known as Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia.

Location

Holy Corner is a protected urban heritage site. It is now a largely urban neighbourhood in the northeast of Ghent, close to the Rabot (originally a Spanish fortification, now a Ghent neighbourhood as well), between the Burgstraat and the Begijnhoflaan.

Holy Corner can easily be reached by general transport. Since its newest addition is the Russian Orthodox church, it is notable that tram 4, the quickest connection from Ghent railway station, has as its final destination the Ghent neighbourhood of Moscou.

History

In the 13th century, a number of devout, unmarried and lay women, who had been helping the Cistercian sisters with their medical work, were given their own premises by Countess Joanna of Constantinople, daughter to Baldwin IX of Flanders, who also helped with the construction of the Hospital in Lille named after her ( L'hospice de la Comtesse Jeanne, built in 1236).

The beguinage constructed in 1234, and soon named after Saint-Elisabeth who was canonized in 1236, grew into a little town of its own, with a church, a "Grootjuffer" house, an infirmary (with its own chapel), 18 convents, a big laundry meadow (used by the beguines who took in laundry of rich Ghent inhabitants) and a large orchard.

During the French Revolution, the city of Ghent acquired the property rights to the beguinage (on the legal provision of having to subsidize and maintain it). This actually happened to all church property in Belgium, but as the beguinage was not solely an area used for religious activities, the city of Ghent repeatedly tried to incorporate it in new development, as Ghent was experiencing the effects of the Industrial revolution and needed cheap housing for its increasing working force.

After a number of beguines voluntarily settled in a new beguinage at Our Lady Ter Hoyen, the conflict between the Saint Elisabeth beguinage and the town administration dominated by the liberal party became intense. Thanks to financial sponsoring by the Duke of Arenberg (also known as the Prinz von Recklinghausen) in two years' time (1872–1874) a new beguinage was built at the then still independent village of Sint-Amandsberg. On September 29, 1874, more than 600 beguines left Ghent for Sint-Amandsberg, in carriages provided by the Ghent Roman Catholic aristocracy.

After 1874

After the departure of the beguines, the beguinage became a social housing area. There was less investment in infrastructure and accommodation and the area became a prime example of urban decay.

However, in the 20th century, some voices started to be heard that clamoured for the preservation of this unique urban site. Thanks to this, both private enterprise and the town of Ghent started to invest more into local housing, and from 1984 on the neighbourhood even began to feel the effects of gentrification. As often, artists were the first to come here: Constant Permeke, Albert Servaes and Frits Van den Berghe

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