Herkenrode Abbey

Since 1972 some of the surviving buildings have served as the home of a community of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre, who have since built a new retreat center and church on the site.

The abbey was founded in or about 1182 by Count Gerard of Loon, who sold a part of his lands to raise funds for his participation in the Crusades, and used some of the proceeds to endow a Cistercian monastery for nuns.

(Some historians claim that he was forced to do so by Rudolf of Zähringen, the Prince-Bishop of Liège, as a penance for having burnt down the collegiate church of Tongeren).

In the 18th century a total reconstruction was planned, of which the Neo-Classical abbesses' lodgings was built, as well as an English garden, still intact, with exotic trees.

During a policy of anti-Catholic measures which were in effect from 1795 to 1799, they seized the abbey and expelled the nuns, as a result of which the monastic community was permanently dispersed.