BEGIJNHOF (BEGUINAGE)

Take the time to stroll the aisles and enjoy the moment. It's magical! The princely Ten Wijngaarde beguinage, which means "of the vine", is a haven of peace and tenderness. A typically Flemish particularitý. This one, with its whitewashed cottage facades and lush, strangely silent garden, was founded by Margaret of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders, who had the village of Ostend raised to city status in 1245. Beguinages, mainly located in Northern Europe, are defined as authentic villages in medieval towns. The term beguinage sometimes refers to an autonomous communitý of pious women, sometimes to a group of buildings of integrity, generally built around a tree-lined courtyard, housing a communitý and including not only domestic and monastic facilities, but also workshops used by the communitý, and an infirmary. Beguines, widowed or single women, lived a monastic life, but without taking vows, so they could leave the community if they wished. They lived by begginǵ and crafts, making pottery and copying books. These women's communities were sometimes powerful enough to weigh in on the economic life of a town.

In the early days of the Bruges beguinage, the beguines didn't live in individual maisonnettes, but in collective houses; this changed little tò little, a social divide, between wealthy and disinherited beguines, gradually taking hold in the ^15th century. Although it was little affected by iconoclasts, the beguinage was evacuated in 1582 by the Calvinist authorities. The church, then used as a warehouse, saw its roof destroyed by fire. After the Catholic restoration came a period of blossoming in the ^17th century: renovation of the buildings, embellishment of the repaired church, but also a change in the statutes, reserving residence in the beguinage to ladies of high society. Of the 150 beguines it had counted in the ^15th century, only around 20 remained at the beginning of the ^19th century. To remedỳ the decline in numbers, and to oppose the dilapidation of the buildings, the beguinage's parish priest had the idea in 1927 of attracting French Benedictine nuns to the beguinage, and today it's still Benedictine nuns who lodge in several of the maisonnettes. The Bruges beguinage, considered to be the most beautiful in Flanders, features a neo-classical entrance gate dating from 1776, at the end of a bridge from the same period; a poplar garden, lined with beguine houses almost all in the same traditional style, most dating from the ^17th century, others from later centuries. There are also a handful of ^16th-century cottages. The Church of St. Elisabeth dates back to the ^mid-13th century, but was remodeled in the ^18th century.

Still occupied by Benedictine nuns still wearing their ^15th-century habit, but also by lonely old ladies, the beguinage has many attractions. Unfortunately, one of the little houses converted into a Beguine House, where you can discover the living conditions of the beguines of yesteryear, their habits and daily routine, is currently closed. The best time to visit the Beguinage? In spring, when the inner garden is covered in blooming daffodils.