Who will kiss this beautiful but dilapidated post-war icon awake?

Despite its ruinous state, the architectural wealth of the former campus complex de Lichtenberg is overwhelming. The sagging walls of the steeply rising amphitheatre, the mossy colonnades of the theater house and a deplorable director’s house on a slender concrete leg that is reminiscent of architect Le Corbusier: all together form a glorious reminder of the modernist belief in progress from the 1950s. A school campus where light, air, knowledge and culture had to help Catholic youth into a new era.

The Lichtenberg is an insider tip for more than one reason. First of all because of its relative obscurity: this grandiose post-war icon has been in disuse for years, is hidden behind an earthen wall and is not publicly accessible. Those who do end up in it, can see for themselves that despite the moss, expanding shrubbery and the torn walls, the campus still bears witness to the powerful design language of the Weert architect Pierre Weegels and the artist Harrie Martens. ‘The Lichtenberg is a rare example of an early post-war complex in which religion, sport and culture are approached integrally’, wrote an impressed committee of the National Monuments Department when it prepared a report on this Catholic reconstruction miracle in 2005.

But how long will the national monument de Lichtenberg survive? ‘If you wait a few more years, it will only be food for archaeologists’, says Jan Nies of the Behoud de Lichtenberg foundation. This club of concerned residents of Weert and the surrounding area sounds the alarm because the Lichtenberg seems to be collapsing after decades of neglect. Only the small Lady Chapel and the tennis courts look good – the latter because the local tennis club has used the clay courts with their intimate natural stone walls for years. The pool has long since collapsed and disappeared under the blackberry bushes. Only the starting blocks still peep out above ground level and remind us of the time when boys played swimming competitions here under the watchful eye of skirted priests.

One of those boys was architect Rob Langeslag, who came to Lichtenberg in the 1960s as a student at the Episcopal College. “This is what they called the Breviary Path,” he says as he leads the way on an overgrown road. The name refers to the prayer books that priests carried with them for daily use. The path ends in front of the chapel. ‘In summer the day here began with a edifying word from the teacher-priests, men of distinction. We spoke to them as a professor.’

The well-proportioned chapel with fanned concrete canopy has abstract stained glass windows with matching mosaics by artist Martens. A lantern lets in daylight through the roof. Here too it is clear that architect Weegels has a warm heart for the modernists. ‘You see references to Le Corbusier’s famous pilgrimage chapel in Ronchamp’, says Langeslag, who decided to become an architect when he came into contact with the many modern buildings on the Lichtenberg.

The Lichtenberg campus is the brainchild of ambitious priest-innovators from the Episcopal College in Weert. Provisor – Rector – Jules Nabben not only had the vision and the network, but was also a handy businessman who managed to persuade internal priest-teachers to donate part of their salary for the construction. For example, he created a green and private school campus after the American example. The new boarding school, the teachers’ residences and the school buildings would follow later, or at least that was the plan. But the Lichtenberg set the tone with sports and culture. Mens sana in corpore sano: a healthy mind in a healthy body.

The amphitheater can accommodate 2,200 spectators. At the highest point you look 13 meters down to the enormous playing surface. ‘Goosebumps when you stood there’, recalls organizer Peter Verkennis, who first brought the Bospop festival to the Lichtenberg in 1985. ‘The campus had been abandoned for years by then, there was no electricity or water, so a lot of improvisation. But the place was magical.’

The amphitheater, dug into an artificial mound, is a work with which the relatively unknown architect Weegels surpassed himself. It has a mix of modernist stylistic devices – such as the director’s house – with classical elements: the natural stone wall of the theater. The stage house is impressive with its 9 meter high concrete columns and in the rear wall images by artist Martens in sgraffito, a technique in which drawings and surfaces are applied in wet mortar.

How special this campus was was also struck by the four experts from the National Office for Monument Care, who meticulously mapped the Lichtenberg in 2005. ‘The complex as a whole shows high-quality architectural qualities that justify a very high rating at national level.’ Their report reflects admiration for the ‘cleanliness’ of the design, but also concern about the state of disrepair. The amphitheater has hardly been used since the 1970s, because the school changed course. ‘The first time we played there, we had to cut down trees in the stands’, remembers Bospop director Verkennis. He organized the ever-expanding festival there for eight years, when the open-air theater became too small.

This long state of disrepair also worries the town hall of Weert: ‘For a long time, the complex was too young to receive a national monument status,’ says Marian Arts of the municipality of Weert. The Behoud de Lichtenberg foundation and the city lobbied hard for a protected status, which they finally succeeded in 2014, via a detour. Four years earlier, Weert had already written in a municipal policy memorandum that the Lichtenberg ‘needs to be kissed awake’. But meanwhile, very little is happening, notes foundation board member Nies. ‘This complex is so vulnerable, it is such an extensive job to refurbish everything and give it a new purpose. It takes a government hand to save the Lichtenberg.”

However, the government is at a distance here and manages through zoning plans and environmental visions. The ownership rests with Horne Quartier Weert, a private investor. Weert believes that the municipality is not the right party to take on the risks associated with restoration and renewal. Weert has, however, stipulated that the owner must stop the decay on the Lichtenberg and the city wants the open-air theater to become accessible and programmable again.

Director Paul van den Heuvel of Novaform – who is developing the site for the owner – announces that a shell restoration of the amphitheater can probably start after 1 September. ‘That is not yet a restoration to restore the theater to its former glory, but it does prevent further subsidence and damage.’ Thinking about the arrival of a restaurant or other new addition. ‘It’s a beautiful area, there needs to be more excitement in it. But it is also a national monument, so you are limited in what is possible.’

Time does not seem to be in favor of the Lichtenberg: the theater has no windows anymore, the roofs are leaking, street lighting has rotted away. There are traces of vandalism everywhere. “Look.” Architect Langeslag points to deep holes in the precious glazed brick with which a mosaic has been laid in the high side wall of the theater house. ‘Someone once carved crampons for a climbing wall here. Unbelievable how this was handled. It’s really sad.’