Beguinage

The Beguinage of Lier is one of the three oldest in Brabant and was formed, presumably, in the first half of the 13th century. Originally, the beguines did not live in a secluded beguinage but formed a free community spread across several places where they lived in abstinence and in a poor existence. Their free time was spent in prayer and meditation. A significant increase in beguinages occurred after the Crusades, around the mid-13th century, leading many women to live together. In Lier, around 1258, a number of unmarried women spontaneously began to live together outside the first city walls near the current beguinage. Thus, the Lier beguinage gradually grew.

The last beguine, Sister Agnes, left in 1984 at the age of 85 and passed away in 1994.

Together with twelve other Flemish beguinages, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on December 2, 1998.

Iben Ackermans