St Gertrude's Abbey is a complex of former monastic buildings in

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 Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. An Augustinian priory founded in 1206 was suppressed in 1797. After restoration, the monastic buildings were used between 1917 and 1968 by Benedictine nuns as a house of studies and student residence.

History

In 1206

Henry I, Duke of Brabant Henry I (, ; c. 1165 – 5 September 1235), named "The Courageous", was a member of the House of Reginar and first duke of Brabant from 1183/84 until his death. Early life Henry was possibly born in Leuven (Louvain), the son of Count Godf ...

, founded a priory of Augustinian

Canons Regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...

. In 1252 the priory church was given the dual function of a parish church.

John I, Duke of Brabant John I, also called John the Victorious (1252/533 May 1294) was Duke of Brabant (1267–1294), Lothier and Limburg (1288–1294). During the 13th century, John I was venerated as a folk hero. He has been painted as the perfect model of a brave, ...

, extended the priory's possessions in 1298. The priory became an abbey in 1449. Building works were carried out under Theodore Van Brakel (abbot 1465-1486), Jan Van Der Moere (abbot 1486-1514), Philippe de Hosdin (abbot 1553-1569), and Arnould Eynthouts (abbot 1593-1607). The abbey was suppressed in 1797 and the land was divided into three lots and sold at public auction in 1798. In 1911 the property, which had been converted to industrial purposes, was bought by Canon

Armand Thiéry Armand refer to: People * Armand (name), list of people with this name *Armand (photographer) (1901–1963), Armenian photographer *Armand (singer) (1946–2015), Dutch protest singer *Sean Armand (born 1991), American basketball player *Armand, ...

and extensively renovated, with the aid of

Joseph François Piscador Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, to house a museum of medieval architecture. In 1917 the buildings were acquired by the Benedictine nuns of Paix-Notre-Dame Abbey, Liège, who installed a house of studies and a student residence. The buildings were heavily damaged during the bombing of Leuven on 11–12 May 1944, leading to fresh renovations in 1945–1953. The Benedictines left the site after the 1968 linguistic division of the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

. The abbey site was bought by the city of Leuven in 1978 and converted into residential property.Sint-Geertruiabdij met tuin
Listing as Flemish built heritage. Accessed 23 March 2017.

References

{{Reflist 1200s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1206 establishments in Europe 1797 disestablishments in Europe 18th-century disestablishments in the Southern Netherlands Augustinian monasteries in Belgium Christian monasteries established in the 1200s