Maredret Abbey is a Benedictine nunnery, located on the edge of Marèdret, a very small village in the hilly countryside to the south of Charleroi and Namur. The abbey was inaugurated with the installation of seven nuns in 1893, and the abbey church was constructed between 1898 and 1907.
The abbey's foundation was part of the wider monastic revival of the nineteenth century. The project to establish a community of Benedictine nuns at Maredret was set in motion by Agnès de Hemptinne, a member of a local family of aristocrats. Land was provided by the Desclée family, and the first stone was put in place on 5 August 1891. Building was completed only in 1936, however. The monastery comprises a compact collection of stone buildings in a neo-gothic style, under a traditional slate roof.
The abbey church, completed in 1907, was one of the final projects of the fashionable Gothic revival Gent-based architect Auguste Van Assche. The interior and the windows have been described as remarkable. Later buildings were the work of a succession of local architects. The site of 15 hectares is surrounded by a high wall of rough stone, enhanced with two medieval style towers.
The abbey has become focused increasingly on crafts. The nuns have an expertise in the art of Illuminated manuscript, which may be applied to documents marking important stages in individual Christian lives: baptism, religious confirmation or conversion, marriage and burial. Religious imagery is an important part of the abbey's on-going life, along with artisanal regional food products.
In 2016, the nuns of the abbey began brewing beer to raise funds for repairs and maintenance. This made them the first nuns to do so, as beer brewing is traditionally to purview of monks.
References:Monte d"Accoddi is a Neolithic archaeological site in northern Sardinia, located in the territory of Sassari. The site consists of a massive raised stone platform thought to have been an altar. It was constructed by the Ozieri culture or earlier, with the oldest parts dated to around 4,000–3,650 BC.
The site was discovered in 1954 in a field owned by the Segni family. No chambers or entrances to the mound have been found, leading to the presumption it was an altar, a temple or a step pyramid. It may have also served an observational function, as its square plan is coordinated with the cardinal points of the compass.
The initial Ozieri structure was abandoned or destroyed around 3000 BC, with traces of fire found in the archeological evidence. Around 2800 BC the remains of the original structure were completely covered with a layered mixture of earth and stone, and large blocks of limestone were then applied to establish a second platform, truncated by a step pyramid (36 m × 29 m, about 10 m in height), accessible by means of a second ramp, 42 m long, built over the older one. This second temple resembles contemporary Mesopotamian ziggurats, and is attributed to the Abealzu-Filigosa culture.
Archeological excavations from the chalcolithic Abealzu-Filigosa layers indicate the Monte d"Accoddi was used for animal sacrifice, with the remains of sheep, cattle, and swine recovered in near equal proportions. It is among the earliest known sacrificial sites in Western Europe.
The site appears to have been abandoned again around 1800 BC, at the onset of the Nuragic age.
The monument was partially reconstructed during the 1980s. It is open to the public and accessible by the old route of SS131 highway, near the hamlet of Ottava. It is 14,9 km from Sassari and 45 km from Alghero. There is no public transportation to the site. The opening times vary throughout the year.