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Forest Abbey | |
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![]() View from the cour d'honneur (main courtyard) | |
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General information | |
Type | Abbey |
Town or city | City of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region |
Country | Belgium |
Coordinates | 50°48′38″N4°19′00″E / 50.81056°N 4.31667°E |
Forest Abbey (French : Abbaye de Forest) or Vorst Abbey (Dutch : Abdij van Vorst) was a Benedictine abbey located in the Brussels municipality of Forest, Belgium. It was founded in 1105 and existed for nearly 700 years, until its partial destruction by fire in 1764. It was abolished in 1796. Only the abbey's 18th-century outbuildings have been preserved. They are now owned by the municipality and serve as a cultural centre.
The abbots of Affligem Abbey, which had been the ecclesiastical owners of the parish since the Bishop of Cambrai ceded it to them in 1105, decided to build a priory for women in Forest, which would eventually become Forest Abbey. [1] The first prioress was named in 1239. Also in the 13th century, the Romanesque Church of St. Denis was rebuilt in the newer Gothic style. The neighbouring abbey church was rebuilt in the 15th century.
Relics of Saint Alena, whose cult was popular in the region, were formerly kept both in the parish church and in the abbey church, but since 1796 only in the parish church. [2]
Much of the abbey was destroyed by fire on 26 March 1764. [3] The abbey was suppressed on 8 October 1796 and sold the following year. The buildings that survived the dismantling are now owned by the Brussels municipality of Forest, and are used as a cultural centre for seminars, banquets and exhibitions. The abbey and the site were classified as a historic monument in 1994.
Forest or Vorst, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the southern part of the region, it is bordered by Anderlecht, Ixelles, Uccle, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the Flemish municipality of Drogenbos. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch).
Alena, also known as Alène or Alina, is a Christian saint who, if historical, was martyred around the year 640. She is sometimes referred to as Alena of Forest, or Alena of Brussels, having died in Forest, Belgium, which is now one of the nineteen municipalities of Brussels.
Faremoutiers Abbey was an important Merovingian Benedictine nunnery in the present Seine-et-Marne department of France. It formed an important link between the Merovingian Frankish Empire and the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent and East Anglia.
La Cambre Abbey or Ter Kameren Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in the City of Brussels, Belgium. It is located in the Maelbeek valley between the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos and the Ixelles Ponds. The abbey church is a Catholic parish of the Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels and home to a community of Norbertine canons, while other parts of the monastery house the headquarters of the Belgian National Geographic Institute (NGI) and La Cambre, a prestigious visual arts school.
Remiremont Abbey was an abbey that was founded as a house of nuns near Remiremont, Vosges, France. It later became a community of secular canonesses.
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Saint-Ghislain Abbey was a monastery founded by Saint Ghislain around 650, located in Wallonia on the Haine. It became a Benedictine monastery around 940, when reformed by Gérard of Brogne, and was suppressed in 1796.
Maria de Taye was the 25th abbess of Forest Abbey at Vorst in the Duchy of Brabant from 29 January 1609 until her death.
Drongen Abbey, or the Old Abbey, Drongen, is a monastic complex on the River Leie in Drongen, a part of the city of Ghent in East Flanders, Belgium.
Ter Doest Abbey was a Cistercian abbey in Belgium, in the present Lissewege, a district of Bruges, West Flanders.
Male Castle, Bruges. A community of the Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre. It originated in Bruges in the 11th century, and between 1954 and 2013 was settled in Male Castle in Male, Sint-Kruis, Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium.
The Abbey of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Nieuwe Plant, formerly also Roesbrugge Abbey is a community of Augustinian canonesses belonging to the Congregation of Windesheim. The sisters are informally known as the Roesbrugge Dames - the Roesbrugge Ladies. Located in Roesbrugge from 1239 to the late 16th century, the community then moved into Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium, where it exists today. Its adjacent school is the Lyceum Onze Lieve Vrouw ter Nieuwe Plant.
The Abbey of Notre Dame aux Nonnains, also called the Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Troyes, was a convent founded before the 7th century in Troyes, France. The non-cloistered canonesses became wealthy and powerful in the Middle Ages. In 1266–68 they defied the pope and used force to delay construction of the collegiate Church of St Urbain. They were excommunicated as a result. Later the abbey adopted a strictly cloistered rule and the nuns became impoverished. Work started on building a new convent in 1778 but was only partially completed before the French Revolution (1789–99). The abbey was closed in 1792 and the church was demolished. The convent became the seat of the prefecture of Aube.
Hieronymus van Orley was a Franciscan painter in the Spanish Netherlands.
Adrienne du Petit-Cambrai was the 24th abbess of Forest Abbey.
Oosteeklo Abbey was a Cistercian nunnery founded in Oosteeklo in 1217 and later moved to Ghent.
Ninove Abbey was a monastery of the Premonstratensian Order in the center of Ninove, in the province of East Flanders, Belgium. Only the abbey church now remains.
Montivilliers Abbey is a former Benedictine nunnery, founded between 682 and 684 by Saint Philibert in the town of Montivilliers in Normandy, in the present department of Seine-Maritime, France. It was suppressed during the French Revolution, but many buildings, including the church, have survived.