Saint Gertrude Church

The Klein Begijnhof of Leuven is a neighborhood consisting of a street and two cul-de-sacs north of the Saint Gertrude Abbey. This neighborhood was inhabited by beguines until the 19th century. As the name suggests, this beguinage is the smallest of the two beguinages in the city. The other, Groot Begijnhof, is located on the other side of the city, and the two beguinages actually do not have a common history (unlike the two beguinages in Mechelen). The Klein Begijnhof is sometimes also referred to as Oud Begijnhof. The word 'oud' does not mean that this beguinage is older than the other one, but rather that this beguinage had fewer financial resources than its larger counterpart, causing the buildings to fall into disrepair more quickly. The oldest known documents of this beguinage date from 1272 (for the Groot Begijnhof, this goes back almost half a century further). The Klein Begijnhof is said to have originated as a community of women who served in the nearby abbey of Saint Gertrude (although this is not certain). Initially (until 1631), the Klein Begijnhof did not form its own parish. Only in 1636 was a church in late Gothic style built for the beguines. The number of beguines never exceeded 100 and declined very rapidly after the French Revolution. The church was demolished in the 19th century (1862), and in 1954, the infirmary also had to make way for the advancing brewery Stella Artois. The beguine houses, since the French Revolution owned by the O.C.M.W., continued to deteriorate until in the 1990s, first a timid restoration was undertaken, followed by a thorough restoration in the 2000s. After the restoration, the houses were repainted white (giving the Klein Begijnhof a different appearance than the Groot Begijnhof) and sold to private individuals (in 2005). Today, about thirty houses in traditional Flemish style remain from this beguinage. Generally, they are more simply finished than those in the Groot Begijnhof, which indicates the limited resources of the beguines in this beguinage. Open: permanently freely accessible

citytripplanner.com