God's House Saint Peter

Everyone knows the word "hospital" but what is a "God's house"? God's houses were charitable institutions where orphans, poor people, people with disabilities, or terminally ill individuals stayed for a long time or even for their entire lives.

The Commission of Civil God's Houses managed around 1830 the medieval hospital on Gasthuisstraat, the infirmary, and a boys' orphanage in Begijnhof and a girls' orphanage on Patersstraat. However, there was no separate nursing home for poor elderly people who are often left to fend for themselves by their families. This was solved by providing them with accommodation with citizens and farmers for a fee. However, this led to quite a few abuses. In the 1830s and 1840s, therefore, they began to search for a suitable location together with the city government. Eventually, it was decided to build a large building that would also house both orphanages. The location chosen was land next to Begijnhof, at the end of the current Wezenstraat. The building was inaugurated in 1856.

The boys' orphanage continued to exist until 1900, the girls' orphanage until November 1949. The Sint-Pietersgodshuis remained in use as a home for the elderly until the opening of the nursing home next to the Sint-Elisabeth hospital in 1964.

Jan Meeusen