The Abbey of Oriënten, the sisters in 'the house to the east'

There is a lot to tell about the Abbey of Oriënten. In 1233, the abbey was referred to as ‘Vallis virginum in Oriente’ which actually means the ‘valley of virgins in the east’. The name refers to the women’s monastery Maagdendal (‘Vallis Virginem’) in nearby Oplinter. That monastery was founded in 1215 and was located west of Oriënten. The abbey in Grazen were their 'Sorores domus Orientis’, sisters in the house to the east. The building has been a farm for several centuries, but today people still refer to it in the village as ‘The Monastery’.

Such foundations could not arise without worldly help. In Oplinter, that support came from the very pious Bartholomeus of Tienen or Bartholomeus the Butcher, for he is said to have been a butcher. Here, the benefactor was none other than Arnold IV, Count of Loon.

The foundation is situated within the movement of the Cistercians, which arose in 1098 from Cîteaux by Robert of Molesme. That 13th century was, by the way, the heyday for female monasteries, and several of the monialen - this is what the female ‘monks’ are called - were known mystics. In Maagdendal, we have Beatrijs of Nazareth. Within the current borders of Belgium, no less than 49 monastic abbeys were founded from the end of the 12th century to the middle of the 13th century; at one point, we counted 66 women's monasteries of the Cistercians compared to 15 men's monasteries. The oldest monastic women’s monastery was that of Herkenrode, founded in 1181. The women who populated these monasteries in the 12th-13th century mainly came from the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie.

The Abbey of Oriënten appears to have never been very large in terms of the number of nuns. In 1374, there were 12 to 20 sisters. But it had everything a monastery needed: a church, a dormitory, a dining hall, a sick room, a kitchen, and a brewery, along with some agricultural buildings.

And even more! In 1275, the sister abbeys of Bautershoven (Sint-Truiden) and Oeteren (Maaseik) were ‘taken over’. In the 16th century, the possessions greatly expanded due to Abbess Maria Bollen. The abbey owned a lot of land spread over about 30 locations in Brabant, Loon, and Liège. It was one of the largest domains of nuns in the Netherlands. In the immediate vicinity, the abbey had, besides the tenant farm that was directly connected to the monastery, two other farms, namely Ter Lenen and Ter Borg, as well as the Grazen mill.

In 1580, the abbey was partially destroyed during the religious wars. In the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, it was thoroughly restored and renewed.

The Ferraris map shows us the buildings embraced by a right-angle bend in the Melsterbeek. The main access road is a driveway from the old road from Binderveld to Grazen. The whole area displays an elongated and quite irregularly developed ensemble of volumes planted around various inner courtyards. An equally elongated vegetable garden connects to the large northwest wing, while the broader surroundings consist of fields, meadows, and large orchards. Four ponds are located on the southern side.

In 1798, the abbey was sold as national property in two lots. The buildings would be demolished in 1816. What remained were the abbess's residence - the current house - and a service building. By 1831, the large pleasure and ornamental garden had been reduced to a mere 25 ares of yard space, while the rest of the surroundings consisted of meadows, fields, and ponds, in fact remnants of the former moat.

In 1841, Oriënten came into the possession of notary Pierre-Louis Vinckenbosch from Tienen. The following years, the Vinckenbosch family would expand the area into an impressive gentlemen's farm with a large expanse of fields and meadows that was still concentrated in a block around the farm. The Vinckenbosch family still owns and operates it.

In connection with our earlier story about jenever distilleries, Vinckenbosch received a license for a distillery in 1842.

A spectacular expansion of the buildings took place in 1846 and in 1869. Then, the remaining abbey building – now a residential wing - was extended to the northeast with the construction of a barn and stables to an impressive length of 100 meters. Also around 1846, the former distillery and the stable wing were built on the other side of the immense rectangular yard. It makes sense that the distillery and stable were located close to each other: the processed grain mash served as rich animal feed. That stable would later be expanded into the current H-shaped complex.

In 1859, the still-existing day laborer's house was built on Galgenstraat. A aviary or chicken run and a bakehouse appeared in 1869, and a garden pavilion in 1879.

In 1901, the distillery was modernized and equipped with a steam engine. This meant that distillation could take place almost continuously. The area of meadows and fields amounted to around 82 hectares at that time.

You cannot visit the farm. At best, you can briefly drive up the driveway in Tiense quartzite and discreetly glance at the buildings from under the gate.

Jan Rymenams