The oldest inhabited monastery of the Netherlands in Sint Agatha has another wall. After 2.5 years of restoration, the 390 meter long monastery wall has been restored. One of the last three crosiers who are still living there was allowed to brush the last stone in the wall on Friday afternoon. “That is symbolic, but is nothing on the entire work that has been done,” says Brother Edgard Claes.
The monastery, in the middle of the De Maasheggen nature reserve, has been inhabited by the Kruisheren since 1371. One of them is Edgard Claes. “When I look out out of my window, I see the wall. I enjoy that every day, especially now that it has been restored to its former glory,” he says.
“Those guys worked hard,” says the brother about the work he closely monitored every day. “There were such bad pieces, so you could no longer see how it worked in the past. Now you can clearly see it before. I think that is extremely beautiful.”
The monastery walls, of which parts are more than six hundred years old, played a crucial role in the history of the monastery. The wall protected the monastic community of the world outside and kept the spiritual inside.
“It is part of a monastery,” says Carli van den Berg of Heritage Center Klooster Sint Agatha. “Monastery comes from the word claustrum And that means ‘fence’ again. The wall is that fence and is therefore necessary with a monastery. “
“The stones, which are also called monastery jokes, are carved one by one.”
The decision to renovate the wall was therefore quickly made. Although it had quite a few feet in the earth. “We have received a good contribution to subsidies, but also had to gather a large part ourselves. Fortunately we got a lot of help.”
“The stones, which are also called monastery jokes, are carved one by one,” says Van den Berg. “It is a medieval wall with many details. It has been a huge job, but now the wall has been completely restored in authentic style and can take it against it for centuries.”
From his window, Edgard Claes saw the hard workers in his monastery garden. “It is fantastic that those people came here again and wind here. In 2024 it was even so wet that they worked with tents to continue.”
In the end, the wall, of a total of 23,000 monastery jokes, is finished. The honor to brick the very last stone was for the Kruisheer. “I was able to contribute the last stone. That is symbolic, but is nothing on the entire work that has been done,” he says.
