Complex Zusters van Liefde

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

Introduction

The convent has four adjoining CHAPELS. These Neo-gothic chapels were built in 1857 and refurnished between approximately 1885 and 1932. They served the professed sisters, the novices and the postulants. The novices' chapel has been closed due to lack of vocations and is used for storage; the postulants' chapel has been converted into use as a convent museum. The sisters' chapel, with antechapel and waiting room, is still used as such. The whole is situated to the south of the old convent from 1834, behind the facade of the Motherhouse on the Oude Dijk, and is not visible from the public road.

Description

The one- to two-storey complex has an L-shaped ground plan. The facades are whitewashed and the gabled roofs are covered with slate in Dutch bond. The large chapel of the professed sisters has a four-sided spire. Pointed arch windows and T-windows with leaded glass have been used, with sandstone sills. Between the chapels and the Motherhouse there is a tiled narrow intermediate space.

Decorative iron tie-rods connect the walls of both buildings. The entrance is in the south wing of the convent section from 1834.

First there is a rectangular waiting room. Remarkable here are the polychrome mosaic tiles with geometric pattern. Behind it is an antechapel or prayer chapel. On the left are six T-windows with grisaille glass in iron pointed arch form. On the right are beige-painted Neo-gothic wooden doors, which provide access to a passage.

This rectangular space has a stucco ceiling with wooden beams and stone scroll consoles. The floor is laid with cement tiles in geometric pattern. The wainscoting is of oak wood. Above the wing doors leading to the main chapel hangs an elongated oil painting from 1932. Text: "I.H.S. 1832/ Hail O Queen Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, our hope be greeted/ 1932". In the middle is Mary with Child, she is being crowned. On the left St. Vincent de Paul, on the right St. Joseph. Also sisters among their good works, such as care for children, the infirm and the elderly. The main chapel, intended for the professed sisters, has the richest furnishings. This chapel, like the aforementioned rooms, is situated to the south of the convent from 1834. The single-aisle space has five nave bays and a narrower choir with three-sided closure. The walls are plastered, as are the star vaults of stucco. These vaults have keystones with figures of saints. The walls are articulated by bundled pilasters. The base is black, the columns and the ribs of the vaults are dark red with gilded accents. The original polychromy has otherwise disappeared here as well as in the other chapels. Under the wooden choir gallery with organ is a blind window on the right and a leaded glass window from 1949 on the left. Access upwards via a staircase with wooden decorative balustrade is illuminated by a richly worked cast iron pointed arch window. Ceiling with small cross-ribbed vaults and oak leaf foliage decoration in natural stone. In the oak wainscoting are incorporated Stations of the Cross and a Neo-gothic confessional. The Stations of the Cross, oil on canvas, date from 1932 and are by the hand of Windhausen. The oldest dated component is a marble holy water stoup, 23 November 1857. In the wainscoting around the confessional are also incorporated paintings of St. Lidwina, St. Helena and Mary Magdalene. The pointed arch windows are all provided with very detailed leaded glass representations. These were donated by family members of the sisters. The windows in the nave are by J.B. Capronnier from Brussels and dated 1882-1888. The windows show mainly scenes from the lives of female saints such as St. Agnes and Mary. Also scenes from the life of Jesus, such as at age twelve in the temple, in the workshop of his father, as the Good Shepherd. In the choir are the windows from 1882 by J. Goossens and Capronnier. According to an inscription these were donated by the 82 branch houses to the jubilating Motherhouse (1832-1882). These are windows with the Holy Ghost, Christ, St. Vincent: "Love without self-love". The Neo-gothic oak wooden organ balustrade rests on four columns and is provided with images of saints. Organ and organ case are not of value from the point of view of heritage care.

Particularly notable are the high altar and the side altars dedicated to St. Joseph and Mary. These were a gift from the 99 branch houses on 20 May 1927. The high altar has a sculptural group of the Last Supper. This sculptural group is older and dates from a previous altar. All associated components are particularly richly worked out. The images of Joseph and Mary have an Art Deco frame of the rear wall in orange-brown marble with black decorative bands. Behind the choir are a sacristy and auxiliary sacristy. At right angles to the choir, to the north, is the former novices' chapel. This rectangular single-aisle space has a view of the choir of the main chapel. The space, with pointed arch windows on the south side, is articulated by pilasters with cross-ribbed vaults. Most of the polychromy has disappeared. The floor is laid with polychrome cement tiles in pattern. Against the pilasters stand images of saints. The arch to the choir of the main chapel is closed off by iron railings with openwork pattern and above it a large leaded glass section with Neo-gothic tracery.

The postulants' chapel is accessible via a staircase in the passage by the waiting room and is located above the antechapel or prayer chapel. This spiral staircase has a wooden decorative balustrade and an image of St. George. The former chapel is much simpler in execution than the components described above. Striking is the much lower, compressed character of the rectangular single-aisle space with cross-ribbed vaults. The wall paintings have disappeared.

Valuation

The chapel complex is of general importance. It has cultural-historical importance as an example of a cultural and spiritual development, in particular the founding and growth of Catholic congregations and their care for education and charity, reflected in the gradual expansion of the complex, which is also important as an example of the typological development of convent congregations.

Architecturally it is important because of the style. The building is valuable because of the integrity of interior and exterior and the particular use of materials and ornamentation. Because of the particular arrangement of the ground plan, the whole has a high degree of architectural and typological rarity.