Ninove Abbey

Ninove Abbey (Dutch: abdij van Sint-Cornelius en Sint-Cyprianus), of which only the church remains in the center of Ninove, in the province of East Flanders, Belgium was a monastery of the Premonstratensian Order.

Ninove Abbey
Abdijkerk
Former abbey church (Abdijkerk) of Ninove
Ninove Abbey
50°54′00″N 4°01′12″E
Location	Ninove
Country	Belgium
Denomination	Catholic
Religious order	Premonstratensian
History
Founded	1137
Founder(s)	Gerard I, Lord of Ninove
Architecture
Style	Baroque and Neoclassical

The Abbey in the early 17th century. The image is taken from Flandria Illustrata of 1641

The parish church at Ninove was converted into a Premonstratensian Abbey in 1137 by Gerard I, Lord of Ninove in remembrance of his wife Gisela and himself.[1] The abbey was a filiation from Park Abbey outside Leuven.[2]

The monks settled on uncultivated lands which had been offered to them by the lord of Ninove which were near the town, on the banks of the river Dender. The community continued to grow and its financial position soon allowed it to occupy the adjacent parishes. The lay brothers undertook the farm work.

The 16th and 17th centuries were difficult times because of the political troubles and the effects of the Eighty Years' War. The 18th century brought a period of calm and prosperity. All the abbey buildings were reconstructed to the plans of Ghent architects Jan Baptist Simoens and Frans Drieghe, advised by Laurent-Benoît Dewez.[3]

The Abbey was suppressed on 1 February 1796 during the French Revolution, but at the request of the local people, the process to convert the Abbey to a Parish church began. The Abbey community was able to buy it back in a process that lasted until 1822, Many of the buildings were demolished during the first half of the 19th century. The abbey church became the parish church of the Assumption of Mary in 1813.