Minorite Monastery Brussels
The Minorite Monastery ( Dutch Minderbroedersklooster , French Couvent des frères mineurs or Couvent des frères récollets ) in Brussels was founded in 1238 and closed in 1796. Its importance is based primarily on the fact that Duke Johann I of Brabant , the victor of the Battle of Worringen , chose the monastery as his burial place.
location
The monastery was located in what is now the center of Brussels north of the Grand-Place / Grote Markt between Rue de Tabora in the east and Place de la Bourse in the west. It was on the banks of the Zenne / Senne , the river on which Brussels was founded.
history
The Minorites - until 1517 the general term for the Franciscan orders - settled outside of Brussels as early as 1230, just a few years after the death of Francis of Assisi . In 1238 they moved to the city and built a chapel and then their monastery east of Brussels Castle on Place Saint-Géry. Duke John I of Brabant († 1294) chose the monastery as a burial place for himself and his wife.
In 1579, at the time of the Huguenot Wars , the monastery was closed; the Gothic church and the ducal tomb were destroyed. The choir was rebuilt during the Spanish Counter-Reformation in the Baroque style . Archduke Albrecht VII of Habsburg and the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain , as governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (1596–1633), also had the ducal tomb rebuilt. During this century the monastery was enlarged several times, but during the War of the Palatinate Succession , when Brussels was bombarded by French artillery for three days in 1695, the Minorite monastery was also damaged, but not destroyed: a large part of the monastery archive was destroyed, but the buildings were restored be repaired.
In 1796 the Minorite monastery was dissolved by the French and its property was sold. Demolition work began in 1799. The “Buttermarkt” ( Marché au beurre / Botermarkt ) was built on the site of the monastery church and was used as a marketplace until 1871. Construction work on the stock exchange , which was inaugurated in 1873, began here in 1868 . In 1879 the Senne was capped.
Excavations
After the exact location of the monastery had been forgotten during the 19th century, the remains of the monastery were unearthed in 1988 during excavations by the archaeologist Pierre Bonenfant and his team from the Université libre de Bruxelles in the Beursstraat / Rue de la Bourse then examined. Today the results of this work - including Duke Johann's grave - can be viewed in the “Bruxella 1238” museum.
Museum entrance
Foundations of the choir
basement, cellar
Burials
In the Minorite monastery in Brussels were u. a. buried:
- Johann I, Duke of Brabant († 1294)
- Margaret of Flanders († 1285), his wife
- Maria von Brabant († 1338), her daughter, widow of Count Amadeus V of Savoy
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 53.5 ″ N , 4 ° 21 ′ 2 ″ E