Postel Abbey is a
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
abbey in the
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
municipality of
Mol in the
province of Antwerp
)
, native_name_lang = nl
, settlement_type = Province of Belgium
, image_flag = Flag of Antwerp.svg
, flag_size =
, image_shield = Wapen van de provincie Antwerpen.svg
, shield_size ...
.
History
In 1138, Premonstratensian canons from
Floreffe Abbey
Floreffe Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery, the second of the order to be founded, situated in Wallonia on the Sambre at Floreffe, about 11 km southwest of Namur, Belgium.
History
When Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Premonstra ...
founded the monastery at Postel as a dependent priory. In 1613, Postel became independent of Floreffe and in 1618 was raised to the status of abbey. In 1797, the abbey was closed, and the canons expelled, in the course of 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 November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, when French troops invaded the
Austrian Netherlands
The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The p ...
. In 1847, the community here was re-established, after which the abbey buildings were restored in several phases.
From 1943, until the end of World War II,
Herman Van Breda
Herman Leo Van Breda (born Leo Marie Karel; 28 February 1911, in Lier, Belgium – 3 March 1974, in Leuven) was a Franciscan, philosopher and founder of the Husserl Archives at the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Leu ...
hid part of the manuscripts of
Edmund Husserl
, thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations)
, thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view
, thesis1_year = 1883
, thesis2_title ...
(
Husserl Archives
The Institute of Philosophy (Dutch: Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte) is the faculty of philosophy at the KU Leuven in the Belgian city of Leuven. It was founded in 1968 when the ''Institut supérieur de Philosophie - Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbeg ...
) in the abbey.
Architecture
The abbey church was built in the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
Romanesque style and dates supposedly from the end of the 12th century (1190). The church has since been rebuilt several times, as a result of which the building shows some characteristics of
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
and
Baroque styles. The abbey was surrounded by walls, and partially surrounded by ditches.
Products of the abbey
Traditionally, Postel abbey produces Postel, the abbey beer. This beer is no longer brewed within the abbey itself but in a commercial brewery in
Opwijk. The abbey also produces cheese. Since 1994, the monks have also exploited a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
of
medicinal plant
Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against her ...
s, where they cultivate
ginseng
Ginseng () is the root of plants in the genus ''Panax'', such as Korean ginseng ('' P. ginseng''), South China ginseng ('' P. notoginseng''), and American ginseng ('' P. quinquefolius''), typically characterized by the presence of ginsenosides an ...
.
See also
*
Averbode Abbey
Averbode Abbey is a Premonstratensian abbey situated in Averbode, in the municipality Scherpenheuvel-Zichem ( Flemish Brabant), in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels in Belgium.
It was founded about 1134, suppressed in 1797, and reestablished ...
*
List of carillons in Belgium
Carillons, musical instruments of bells in the percussion family, are found throughout Belgium. Several institutions maintain registries on the location and statistics of carillons. Some registries specialize in counting specific types of ca ...
Sources
*
Postel Abbey official website*
{{Authority control
Christian monasteries in Antwerp Province
Premonstratensian monasteries in Belgium
Mol, Belgium