Groot Begijnhof, Leuven
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The Great Beguinage of Leuven () is a well-preserved
beguinage A beguinage, from the French language, French term , is an architectural complex which was created to house beguines: lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world. Originally the beguine institution w ...
and completely restored historical quarter containing a dozen streets in the south of downtown
Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
, Belgium. About in size, with some 300 apartments in almost 100 houses, it is one of the largest remaining beguinages in the
Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...
. It stretches on both sides of the river Dyle, which splits into two canals inside the beguinage, thus forming an island. Three bridges connect the parts of the beguinage. The complete beguinage is owned by the University of Leuven and used as a campus, especially for housing academics.


History

As a community for unmarried, semi-religious women (see
beguine The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christianity, Christian laity, lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in monasticism, semi-monastic ...
), the Beguinage of Leuven originated in the early 13th century. The oldest written documents date back from 1232. A Latin inscription on the church mentions 1234 as founding date. The community is presumably a few decades older. Local historians from the 16th century, including
Justus Lipsius Justus Lipsius (Joest Lips or Joost Lips; October 18, 1547 – March 23, 1606) was a Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatibl ...
, mention 1205 as founding date. Just like other beguinages in
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
, the Beguinage of Leuven had a first golden age in the 13th century, and difficult times during the religious conflicts in the 16th century. One of the priests of this beguinage was Adriaan Florensz Boeyens, spiritual tutor of the infant
Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...
and later known as Pope Adrian VI. From the end of the 16th century, and especially after the
Twelve Years' Truce The Twelve Years' Truce was a ceasefire during the Eighty Years' War between Habsburg Spain, Spain and the Dutch Republic, agreed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609 and ended on 9 April 1621. While European powers like Kingdom of France, France began tre ...
in 1621, the beguinage had a second flourishing period, culminating near the last quarter of the 17th century and continuing afterwards, albeit in a gradual decline, until the invasion of the anti-religious French Revolutionarists. The peak in entries occurred with a time span of two generations in the period 1650–1670, when the number of beguines reached 360. Near 1700, the number had already fallen back to 300, due to warfare (including the
Nine Years War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between France and the Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial possessions in the Americas, India, and West Africa. Relat ...
) and diseases. By the mid of the 18th century, the number of beguines was further reduced to approximately 250. The sudden increase in entries, followed by a long period of gradual decline, explains the homogeneity in the architectural style of the houses, most of which were constructed in the years 1630–1670. The same demographic evolution can be seen in other beguinages, such as in the nearby town of
Diest Diest () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated around ...
, or – with some delay – in Lier (where the houses are on the average half a century younger than in Leuven). After the invasion of the French revolutionaries, the beguinage of Leuven was not sold as '' bien national'', as happened with most monasteries and abbeys. The properties of the community were, however, confiscated and attributed to the local welfare commission (the ''Hospices civils'') and reorganised as civil
almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...
s. Beguines were allowed to continue to live in their houses but free rooms were rented to elderly and poor people. Some former clerics lived on their mandatory pension in the beguinage, among them the last
prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...
of Villers Abbey. The last priest of the beguine community died in 1977 at the age of 107. He is buried in the graveyard of Park Abbey. The last beguine died in 1988.


Restoration

After more than 150 years in use by the local welfare commission and being inhabited by people not financially able to maintain the dwellings, the place was in deplorable state in 1960. The welfare commission decided to sell the complete quarter. A
real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...
showed interest but abandoned his plans when he learnt that the
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
wanted to buy and restore the beguinage. This small town was restored between 1964 and 1989 by the Catholic University of Leuven, which had purchased the site in 1962 from the Social Welfare Commission. The restoration proceeded in two phases. The majority of the streets were restored in the 1960s and 1970s, under supervision of professor Raymond M. Lemaire. The church and the street next to it were restored in 1980s. The large scale restoration project of an entire quarter, and according to the principles of the Venice Charter, was an important momentum in the popularity of beguinages and traditional architecture in general. In 1998, it was officially recognised by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
as a
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
.


Architecture

The Great Beguinage has the appearance of a small town on its own, with houses planned along a network of narrow streets and small squares."Groot Begijnhof", Stad Leuven
This is in contrast to the beguinages of Bruges and
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, where all houses face a central courtyard. The only large greenyard, on the left river bank, resulted from the demolition of some houses in the 19th century. Five houses date back from the 16th century, three of which still show timber framing. The house of Chièvres was built in 1561, in accordance with the will of Maria van Hamal, widow of William de Croÿ, duke of Aarschot and advisor in political affairs of Emperor
Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...
. The characteristic tented roof with the onion-shaped top, refers to the two towers of the duke's castle in Heverlee (today known as
Arenberg Castle Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a former county, principality and finally duchy that was located in what is now Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian noble family. History First mentioned in the 12th c ...
). The majority of the houses date back from the period 1630–1670. They were constructed in the local, traditional architecture, enriched with some sober, baroque elements. The facades show red bricks with sandstone cross-bar frames for windows and doors. A typical element in the beguinage of Leuven are the numerous
dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...
s, often elaborated with
crow-stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...
s and round arched windows. Many houses have strikingly few and small windows on the ground floor. The beguines were keen on their privacy. Houses with large windows on the ground floor used to be hidden by an additional wall, as is still the case in other beguinages. A few houses were replaced or constructed in the 19th century, but far less than in other beguinages, such as in Lier. The church is an early Gothic basilica with Romanesque elements. As usual for mendicant orders or women's congregations, it has no tower, only a flèche. Since 1998, this flèche has carried a small
carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...
, which plays a short melody every half an hour on 16 bells which had come from the carillon of the Leuven library tower. In 2009, 29 new bells and a baton-type keyboard for manual playing were added to the instrument. The north entrance of the church shows two Latin inscriptions indicating the foundation years of beguinage (1234 - anno domini MCCXXXIIII curia incepit) and church (1305). The east end of the church has a strikingly tall 14th century quire window, whose upper part illuminates the attic above the groin vault constructed in the 17th century. The interior is 27 meters wide (the widest church in town) containing a nave and two aisles of ten bays. Daylight is prominently present. The arcades separating nave from aisles carry statues of the twelve apostles, Mary and Saint Joseph with the holy child. These statues, as most other artwork, are sober
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
. They are accentuated by artificial shades in black paint behind them. The restoration in the 1980s revealed 14th-century murals. File:Middenstraat, Groot Begijnhof of Leuven (DSCF0911).jpg, Narrow street in the Great Beguinage File:Begijnhof Leuven - 01b.JPG, Half-timbered house "Sint Helena" File:Begijnhof Leuven - 36.jpg, House "Sint Alexius" File: Begijnhof Leuven - 47.jpg, Convent of "Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Presentatie"


Ten Hove and Aborg

The name of the quarter of the beguinage, Ten Hove (Hof = Court), as well as the old name of the left river bank (Aborg = Vetus Castellum = Old Castle) seem to refer to previous settlement, possibly the court of the first Lords of Leuven. This would then have been the field where the battle of Leuven took place. In 891, the Emperor
Arnulf of Carinthia Arnulf of Carinthia ( – 8 December 899) was the duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle Emperor Charles the Fat to become the Carolingian king of East Francia from 887, the disputed king of Italy from 894, and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor, ...
ended here in the invasions of the
Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
. No hard evidence for the hypothesis was ever found in the beguinage, and so, some authors Van Impe, J. (1981) in ''Mededelingen van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring voor Leuven en Omgeving'', Jaarboek 1981 (volume 21), pp. 165-166 contest the present day beguinage as being the precise location of the battle.


Notable residents

* Anne van Doeveryn (1549–1625), poet


Sources

This article is based on the Dutch Wikipedia article Groot Begijnhof (Leuven).


References


Bibliography

* Bourguignon, M. (1933) ''Inventaire des archives de l'Assistance publique de la ville de Louvain''. Tongeren: Michiels-Broeders * Cockx, E. and Fabri, L. (1994) ''Het Groot-Begijnhof van Leuven, een eigenzinnig verhaal van een eigenzinnige beweging''. Tielt: Lannoo. * Heirman, M. (2001) ''Langs Vlaamse begijnhoven''. Leuven: Davidsfonds * Olyslager, W. A. (1983) ''The Groot Begijnhof of Leuven''. Leuven University Press, Leuven, . * Uytterhoeven, R. (2000) ''The Groot Begijnhof of Leuven''. Leuven University Press, Leuven, . * Van Aerschot, S. and Heirman, M. (2001) ''Flemish Beguinages. World Heritage.'' Davidsfonds, Leuven, .


External links


Belgium's beguinages were once refuges for women
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Groot Begijnhof Leuven, a brief history

Goltfuss pipe organ information

Meet the beguines of the Grand Beguinage of Leuven, Helga Gielen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groot Begijnhof, Leuven World Heritage Sites in Belgium Beguinages Buildings and structures in Leuven