Valduc Abbey

The abbey was founded as a Cistercian monastery for nuns around 1232 by the Duke of Brabant, Henry II.

[1] The abbey underwent several phases of reconstruction, expansion and crisis, but would eventually become quite a big establishment.

[3] By the later part of the century, it however was substantially rebuilt, probably to designs by Neoclassical architect Laurent-Benoît Dewez.

[1][2] Some of the subsidiary buildings, notably a farmstead (built in the second half of the 18th century) and a water mill (mentioned already in 1431) however remain.

It was commissioned by Pierre Craninx [nl], Professor at the University of Leuven, and designed by Gérard Van der Linden [fr] in a Neo-Renaissance style.