Anderlecht Béguinage in Brussels

The beguinages (or begijnhofs as they are called in Dutch) were small communities of women that emerged as early as the 13th Century in countries like Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. These ladies, known as Beguines, were Catholic lay sisters and mostly widows of Crusaders who pursued a godly life in a quiet seclusion, without taking religious vows. Their homes, also called beguinages, could be described as a cross between a convent and an almshouse complex. They were often walled enclosures, sort of little isolated towns containing houses, churches, public buildings, gardens etc. In Belgium alone, remnants of the beguinages can be seen in 20 cities, of which 13 have been inscribed on UNESCO’S World Heritage List. The Anderlecht Beguinage in Brussels is one of them and, although perhaps not as attractive as the one located in Brugge, it still deserves a visit.

Tiny and entirely delightful, the Anderlecht Beguinage is composed of four simple houses, erected between 1252 and the 17th Century and arranged around a central garden close to the church. Funded by a donation from one of the canons, William Doyen of the Chapter of Anderlecht, it used to be the smallest beguinage in the country, inhabited by only eight Beguines. Unlike most other religious edifices in Brussels, the beguinage survived the 1795 uprising intact – it was spared by the French revolutionaries because at that time it provided shelter for a large number of elderly and disabled people.

The Anderlecht Beguinage was turned into a museum in 1930. There is a narrow path leading to the entrance, that brings a special feeling of intimacy unchanged by time. The museum comprises of two houses, one dating from the 16th Century, the other from the 18th Century. They are located around a lovely inner courtyard, offering a splendid view of the nearby Collegial Church of St Peter and St Guido, which was raised in the 16th Century. The inner garden has a covered well and is flanked by two rows of maisonettes. A visit to the Beguinage Museum gives visitors a rare opportunity to explore life at beguinages. Along with items of archaeological interest and religious art, it also contains a local history collection documenting a thousand years of Anderlecht past. The museum shares a common administrative office with the Erasmus House, the former home of the great Renaissance scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam. Together they are the oldest communal museums in Belgium. A stone’s throw away, the Collegial Church is also to be visited if one wishes to learn more about the magnificent past of the Anderlecht Commune.