Our-Lady Ter Hooyen

Geschiedenis

The small beguinage O.L.V. Ter Hooyen is situated in southern area of Ghent. This beguinage was built on the ‘Groene Hooie’, between the ‘Hooipoort’ and the ‘Vijfwindgatenpoort’. That is how this little beguinage got its name.The history of the small beguinage O.L.V. Ter Hooyen in GhentIn Western-Europe the era of the beguinages started in the 12th century. In Ghent they started building 2 beguinages in 1234. They were founded by the countesses Johanna and Margaretha of Flanders. A large part of the beguinage leaned against the city wall. It gave shelter to the beguines coming from small nobility and the newly formed middle class.The beguinage as it is now dates mostly of the 17th and 18th century. In the 19th and 20th centuries it was partly restored, but the restorations are hardly noticeable. With the French occupation of Belgium the beguinage with all it possessions became property of the Commissie der Burgerlijke Godshuizen van de Stad Gent. And in 1801 it was a legitimately acknowledged religious community. In the year 1862 the Duke of Arenberg bought the entire beguinage from the Commission.After World War I the duke had to relinquish his rights because he was a German citizen. And then finally in 1925, the newly founded non-profit organisation Begijnhof O.L.V. Ter Hoyen bought the entire beguinage complex. The beguinage became a protected monument on October 30, 1963.