Nieuwenbosch Abbey Ruins, Ghent, Belgium

Nieuwenbosch Abbey was a Cistercian community established in 1215 in Lokeren. The original site was unsuitable because of the poor water supply and the nuns moved to the site in Heusden in 1257, when the name became 'Nieuwenbosch'. The abbey was stormed and largely ruined in 1579 by the Iconoclasts, and the nuns moved for greater security inside the city of Ghent and built new premises in what is now the Lange Violettenstraat, in part using stone taken from the ruined buildings at Heusden, where the land and the few remaining structures were in due course rented out to farmers. The community was dissolved in 1796 in the French Revolution.

The only visible remaining structure on the Heusden site is the former abbey farm, now known as the Bosseveerhoeve.

In 1948, on the site of the former abbey church (now the garden of the state horticultural college) was discovered a monumental effigy of Hugo II, castellan of Ghent (d. c. 1232), lord of Heusden and father of Hugo III, the most prominent benefactor at the time of the foundation of Nieuwenbosch. The effigy is now in the Ghent City Museum.

References:

Wikipedia

Visby Cathedral

Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.

Programmer1 (3 years ago)
Awesome, you can walk around everywhere.

Fabrizio Della Pace (3 years ago)
Beautiful little gem close to the heart of Gent

Els (3 years ago)
Beautiful and peaceful place. You can see all of it in about 15 minutes, definitely worth a stroll.

Oksana (4 years ago)
Definitely worth to visit. It’s free of charge. Would be nice to see it reconstructed

micah plourd (4 years ago)
Lovely grounds worth a visit

Nieuwenbosch Abbey Ruins

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