The Groot Beguinhof Leuven, Belgium

The Groot Begijnhof looks like a small town in the city of Leuven (Louvain). It is a succession of streets, squares, gardens and parks, with tens of houses and convents in traditional brick and sandstone style.

As a community for unmarried, semi-religious women, this béguinage originated in the early 13th century. The oldest written documents date back from 1232. A Latin inscription on the church mentions 1234 as founding date. The community is presumably a few decades older. Local historians from the 16th century, including Justus Lipsius, mention 1205 as founding date.

Just like other béguinages in Flanders, the béguinage in Leuven had a first golden age in the 13th century, and difficult times during the religious conflicts in the 16th century. One of the priests of this béguinage was Adriaan Florensz Boeyens, spiritual tutor of the infant Charles V and later Pope Adrian VI.

From the end of the 16th century, the Béguinage had a second golden period, culminating near the last quarter of the 17th century and continuing, until the invasion of the anti-religious French Revolutionarists. The peak in entries occurred with a time span of two generations in the period 1650-1670, when the number of beguines reached 360. Near 1700, the number had already fallen back to 300, due to warfare (including the Nine Years War) and diseases. By the mid of the 18th century, the number of béguines was further reduced to approximately 250. The sudden increase in entries, followed by a long period of gradual decline, explains the homogeneity in the architectural style of the houses, most of which were constructed in the years 1630-1670. The same demographic evolution can be seen in other béguinages, such as in the nearby town of Diest, or - with some delay - in Lier (where the houses are on the average half a century younger than in Leuven).

After the invasion of the French revolutionaries, the béguinage of Leuven was not sold as bien national, as happened with most monasteries and abbeys. The properties of the community were, however, confiscated and attributed to the local welfare commission (the Hospices civiles) and reorganised as civil almshouses. Beguines were allowed to continue to live in their houses but free rooms were rented to elderly and poor people.

The last priest of the Beguine community died in 1977 at the age of 107.
Main entrance gate of the Grand Béguinage of Leuven