The old abbey of Notre-Dame du Vivier

The Abbey of Notre-Dame du Vivier is an exceptional monument of Wallonia (Listed in 1969)

Located 7 km east of Namur, in the heart of the valley of the river Gelbressée (formerly La Marca), the Cistercian Abbey of Notre-Dame du Vivier is a historical treasure that has been extending on the edge of the woods of Marche-les-Dames for nearly a millennium. A true geological fault, the western slope is made up of limestone rocks (blue stone) and the eastern slope of sandstone (yellow-brown stone), this typically Mosan valley provides pure and inexhaustible spring water to the Abbey: the Boigneuse.

The legend says that a religious community of ladies was founded by the wives of knights who went on a crusade at the end of the 11th century and did not return in 1103. This religious community of widows, which enriched itself with new members, is believed to have joined the Order of Cîteaux after receiving a visit from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in the year 1138. However, it is said that it took 80 years to build the enclosing wall and to request membership in the Order.

The first Abbess of Marche was elected in 1216. The abbatial church was built in 1253. The Chapter, the first part of the refectory and dormitory in 1279, the extension of the refectory and dormitory in 1420, the Abbess's house in 1470, the former hospitality house in 1603, the converses' wing and the abbess's gallery in 1724, the cells wing in 1762... The last major works were carried out in 1865.

All the buildings of the Abbey are still fully standing. They were not burned, looted, or destroyed by the French revolutionaries. After the dissolution of the Cistercian Order during the Revolution, 9 Cistercian nuns and converses redeemed the abbey and died there one after the other until 1856, the year of the death of the last sister of the Cistercian Abbey of Notre-Dame du Vivier.

The Abbey was then occupied by a community of Ursuline sisters from Cologne who opened a boarding school and a school for Catholic German and Belgian girls with the patronage and support of the Arenberg Princes' Family (1875-1914). French Carmelites occupied the abbey with the same educational vocation between 1918 and 1970. Between 1970 and 1978, the Abbey served as a boarding school for IATA Namur. In 1980, the community of Bethlehem sisters set up its convent there until their departure for Opgrimbie (Limbourg). In 2003, sisters from the Madonna House Community (currently based in Resteigne) arrived; in 2010, the Brotherhood of the Saints-Apostles.

The Abbey has not been occupied since 2013 and was acquired at the end of 2018 by the Bouvier Family with the project to restore this sacred place in respect of its history and the roots of the Walloon, Belgian, and European people. The Abbey, which has undergone significant work throughout its evolution, is intended to be converted into a place of exchanges, culture, tourism, sharing, meetings, and business.

Thus, the Abbey will continue to fascinate with its history, its magic, and its enchantment by offering a memorable setting for all those

Dromos