Complex van Klooster Nazareth

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Complex Koestraat 35-41 Oirschot (1): The R.K. CONVENT Nazareth of the Franciscan sisters is a complex of buildings around a cloister courtyard, which is closed off on the eastern side by the convent chapel. On the east side of this chapel there is also, around a courtyard, the former boarding school which falls outside the protection. The buildings date from the period 1924-'26 in circa 1800 style and somewhat romanticising style and are for the most part by the hand of Jos Cuypers and Jan Stuyt. The interior was renovated in 1995 with respect for the original detailing of windows and doors. At that time a wing from 1935 was demolished and replaced by new construction. This new wing falls outside the protection. Behind the building there is a garden with a cemetery and Joseph Chapel.

Description: The oldest buildings stand on and at right angles to the Koestraat and are two storeys. They have a square-shaped floor plan and are built from machine-made brick. The gabled roof is covered with improved Dutch tiles, is provided with roof dormers and has a moulded gutter list on corbels. Parallel to the Koestraat stands the main building (A). In the brick facade of seven window bays is the main entrance of the convent: a central round-arched portico with tufa stone frame, a wing-panel door with three-part semi-circular fanlight and an inlaid plaque with the inscription: "Convent Nazareth / Mother House of the Sisters / Franciscans / 1797-1925" and an image of the cross with the instruments of the Passion. On the ground floor are composite cross windows with twenty-pane windows. Entirely on the left in the facade a clamped door with side lights. On the upper storey are biforiums in a plastered round-arched niche. On the western corner is a strongly pronounced corner projection, which forms part of the wing at right angles to the Koestraat (B). In the end facade the projection has ornamental brickwork with star motifs. The side facade has fourteen window bays. The windows are the same as in the wing with the main entrance. In this side facade there is also an identical portico as that of the main entrance. On the plaque here stands the text: "The Lord bless You / Give You peace Preserve You / St. Fr. to Br. Leo" and an image of the cross and the instruments of the Passion. Behind wing (B) stands a staircase (C), under a steep hipped roof with improved Dutch tiles and pirons. The building has on the ground floor a double three-light window and on the upper storey round-arched lancet windows with leaded glass. In the side facade two circular lights. The adjoining wing (D) is detailed as (A) and (B) and forms the third arm of the southern cloister courtyard. The hipped roof is covered with improved Dutch tiles and the end facade has three window bays. Internally, during the 1995 renovation the layout of the rooms on the first floor and the attic was radically altered by raising the floors, relocating the original central corridors and enlarging the rooms. However, the layout and design of the ground floor was maintained, although the separate novice corridor on the courtyard disappeared. On the ground floor, on three sides of the inner courtyard there is a cloister walk provided with cross-vaults with terrazzo floors and round-arched windows with leaded glass. Three staircases connect to this walk at the corners with stairs in petit granit with wrought-iron railings. The third staircase adjoining the new wing was internally renewed in contemporary forms. Various rooms retain their simple panelled doors. In one of the portals the original 'roll' is also preserved with which the sisters maintained contact with the outside world and could receive messages and packages. To the right and left of the entrance there are several parlours, until 1956 provided with gratings. The parlours on the right retained their original pine fronts towards the corridor and plank floors. The refectory in the middle of wing D has beam layers on a row of columns. In front of the convent on the Koestraat is a small green space belonging to the convent with three oak trees (trunk circumference max. 2 metres). Behind the building lies a spacious park-like garden with partly still dating from the nineteenth century perimeter wall. In this garden a St. Joseph Chapel from the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the rectangular sisters' cemetery with Calvary Chapel and simple covered passage on three sides.

Valuation: The convent is of general interest. It has cultural-historical value as an example of a spiritual development, namely the flourishing of orders and congregations in the early twentieth century and is also of importance as an example of the typological development of the congregational convent together with boarding school shortly after 1900. It is architecturally and historically important because of the style with which the architects Cuypers and Stuyt accomplished a break with the traditional Catholic institutional style through use of materials and ornamentation. It has ensemble values as part of a complex of convent, chapel, schools and rectory and the role in the silhouette of the place. As a large and coherent convent complex it has become relatively rare.