La Cambre Abbey

La Cambre Abbey (French: Abbaye de La Cambre, pronounced [a.be.i d(ə) la kɑ̃bʁ]) or Ter Kameren Abbey (Dutch: Abdij Ter Kameren) 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 and La Cambre, a prestigious visual arts school.

La Cambre Abbey
Abbaye de La Cambre (French)
Abdij Ter Kameren (Dutch)
View from the cour d'honneur (main courtyard)
General information
TypeAbbey
Architectural style
Town or cityCity of Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region
CountryBelgium
Coordinates50°49′08″N 4°22′27″E
Construction started1201
Construction stoppedDeconsecrated in 1796
DesignationsProtected[1]
Website
Official website

The abbey was founded around 1196. It was suppressed during the French Revolution. Most of today's buildings date from the 18th century; only the church, the refectory and the wing of the capitular hall maintain their medieval character. The simple abbey church houses Albert Bouts' early 16th-century oil painting The Mocking of Christ.

History

Early history

The abbey was founded around 1196 by its patroness Gisèle, with the support of the monastic community of Villers Abbey (in present-day Walloon Brabant), following the Cistercian rule. Henry I, Duke of Brabant, donated the Ixelles Ponds, a water mill, and the domain of the monastery. The Abbaye de la Chambre de Notre-Dame ("Abbey of the Chamber of Our Lady"), hence La Cambre in short form, remained under the spiritual guidance of Villers, one of the most important Cistercian communities.

La Cambre Abbey in the early 18th century

Saint Boniface of Brussels (1182–1260), a native of Ixelles, canon of Saint Gudula (future cathedral of Brussels), who taught theology at the University of Paris and was made bishop of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1231, lived for eighteen years in the abbey and is interred in the church. The mystic leper Saint Alix lived in the community at the same epoch.

During the numerous wars of religion of the 16th and 17th centuries, the abbey was largely destroyed, but it was rebuilt in the 18th century in the French form it largely retains. It was suppressed during the French Revolution and sold as national property in 1796.

20th century–present

After the abbey closed as a monastic community, the buildings were used successively as a military hospital, a cotton manufacture, a poor house, and a military school. During the First World War, the premises were occupied by German troops. In 1921, the League of Friends of La Cambre moved into the abbey to preserve it. The terraced garden and formal clipped bosquets were restored in the 18th-century manner starting in 1924.

La Cambre Abbey has been designated a historic site since 30 June 1953.[2]

Architecture and landscape

On the Ixelles Ponds' side, La Cambre Abbey has two entrances. The cloister adjoins the Church of Our Lady of the Cambre and the refectory. The abbey church shows the transition between the primitive Gothic and the Flamboyant Gothic styles. Its northern part dates from the 15th century, whilst its southern part has retained its original roof and two windows from the early 14th century. It includes a single nave 54 m (177 ft) long and 11 m (36 ft) wide, covered with a shingle vault erected in 1603.

The 18th-century abbesses' residence, with its cour d'honneur (main courtyard) in the neoclassical style and French formal gardens, has preserved the presbytery, the stables, and other dependencies.

Residents

Commendatory Abbesses

  • Régine, Lady of Beauffort
  • Marie, Lady of Egmont
  • Catherine de t'Serclaes
  • Catherine Taye
  • Marie, Countess vander Noot
  • 1627–1709: Isabelle Claire Eugénie Schetz, elected on 6 March 1683, daughter of Anthonie II Schetz, Count of Grobbendonk
  • 1757–1794: Marie Alexandrine Snoy, last abbess, named Dame Séraphine

Bernardine Nuns

Most of the residing nuns were daughters of important Noble Houses and the abbesses were usually members of wealthy families. The sisters were named Bernardines of La Cambre.

The Mocking of Christ, Bouts (early 16th century)

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Fernand de Ryckman de Betz, Georges Dansaert, Abbot Thibaut de Maisières, L'abbaye cistercienne de La Cambre : étude d'histoire et d'archéologie (in French), De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, 1948
  • Émile Poumon, Abbayes de Belgique (in French), Brussels, Office de Publicité, S. A., Éditeurs, 1954, p. 73
  • André Maes, Histoire de Notre-Dame de la Cambre et de Saint Philippe Néri (in French), Brussels, André Maes, 1981
  • Jean-Pierre Félix, Histoire des orgues de l'abbaye de la Cambre puis paroisse Notre-Dame de la Cambre et Saint Philippe Neri à Ixelles (in French), Brussels, Jean-Pierre Félix, 1986
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