::corngrowth

gallery

In the city center of Breda, The Netherlands, one can find a beguinage, an architectural complex which was created to house beguines: the beguines form since the end of the 12th century a movement of pious, catholic women (lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world).

The Breda beguinage is a complex encircled by walls and composed of small houses and a little church. The 29 houses, divided over two courts, are grouped around a herbal garden.

In 1535 the beguines of Breda moved to this depicted location, where they have lived for over 450 years (until 1990).

Nowadays it hasn't this function anymore. It's now being used as a place to live for unmarried women.