The Gatehouse of the abbey

The engraving by Sanderus in Chorographia Sacra Brabantiae from 1659 showed the gatehouse of the abbey very clearly. It was built in the early 17th century in a traditional sand and brick style. The striking feature is the Gothic pointed entrance gate, which forms the early 17th-century core of the gatehouse. In 1825, the municipal council of Kortenberg considered a town hall. The entrance gate of the abbey was the property of Petrus De Wandelaar. The municipality had 400 guilders available for the purchase. This was too low a price for De Wandelaar, and the sale did not go through. In 1830, the next owner, Barones d’Eesbeeck Vanderhaeghen, asked for 800 guilders for the building. The municipality eventually agreed despite the doubled price. In 1830, the town hall and the municipal school were established in the entrance gate. Mayor Lambert-Joseph Schuermans was elected as the head of the municipality in this town hall in 1830. In 1870, the municipal council of Kortenberg noted that the abbey gate was too small and unsuitable. In 1873, the abbey gate, or the old town hall, was sold to Jean-Amand Matthieu, municipal secretary of Kortenberg and owner of the abbey castle. Around 1920, the Lafosse family bought the abbey gate. They established the carpenter's meter factory 'Le Cygne' behind the abbey gate towards the abbey castle. The year 1920 on these industrial archaeological evidence indicates the year of construction.
Bibliography:
F.MAES. Kortenberg, his abbey, his old houses - Eigen Schoon and De Brabander, 1955, p. 199-220.

H. VANNOPPEN. The abbey castle of Kortenberg in the New Regime - The Brabantian Folklore, 1977, p. 13-91, p. 165.

H. VANNOPPEN. Abbey Kortenberg. 1986, 24 p.

H. VANNOPPEN. One Hundred Buildings of Kortenberg. Winksele, 1991, p. 21-23 (No. 7. The Abbey of Kortenberg).

Gemeente Kortenberg