Flemish Béguinage in Brugge

A béguinage (French) or begijnhof (Dutch) is a collection of small buildings used by Beguines. These were various lay sisterhoods of the Roma in Catholic Church, founded in the 13th century in the Low Countries, comprising religious women who sought to serve God without retiring from the world.One of them is located in the city of Brugge in Belgium.

A béguinage comprises a courtyard surrounded by small dwellings. It is often encircled by a wall and secluded from the town proper by one or two gates. Poor and elderly beguines were housed here by benefactors. The first béguinages were set up in the 12th century in what has subsequently become the French speaking part of Belgium (Liège). Béguinages are to be found in an area roughly corresponding with present-day Northern and North-Eastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Western and North-Western Germany. The beguines were a religious movement of women. Their success, according to the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne, was due to a surplus of women occasioned by violence, war, military and semi-military operations, which took the lives of many men. Great numbers of women had no option but to unite and collectively secure the aid of rich benefactors. Similarly, nuns' convents in the 12th century enjoyed substantial initial success. Stricter rules within Cistercian and other abbeys, however, caused many women to seek less strict surroundings. Moreover, these abbeys' initial success necessitated the refusal of a great many applications for admission. As an additional obstacle, in several cases a certain degree of prosperity was required as a condition for admission to a regular nunnery. Town orders, such as the Dominicans, which did not make this requirement, were more successful for that very reason.

The Beguinage in Bruges or Beguinage Princier de la Vigne was founded in 1245. It is located near the 'Lake of Love' and it is surrounded by a courtyard with a garden (Ten Wijngaarde), a garden built in the thirteenth century. The complex consists of houses with colorful facades surrounding a large inner garden and a church. Currently, is occupied by Benedictine nuns who still carry the same habits as in fifteenth century. You can also visit a museum where you can learn about the customs of these women dedicated to God.

The Flemish Béguinages have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.