Postel Abbey is a
Premonstratensian abbey in the
Belgian municipality of
Mol in the
province of Antwerp.
History
In 1138, Premonstratensian canons from
Floreffe Abbey
Floreffe Abbey is a former Premonstratensian monastery, the second of the order to be founded, situated in Wallonia on the Sambre at Floreffe, about 11 km southwest of Namur, Belgium.
History
When Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Premo ...
founded the monastery at Postel as a dependent priory. In 1613, Postel became independent of Floreffe and in 1618 was raised to the status of abbey. In 1797, the abbey was closed, and the canons expelled, in the course of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, when French troops invaded the
Austrian Netherlands. In 1847, the community here was re-established, after which the abbey buildings were restored in several phases.
From 1943, until the end of World War II,
Herman Van Breda hid part of the manuscripts of
Edmund Husserl
, thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations)
, thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view
, thesis1_year = 1883
, thesis2_title ...
(
Husserl Archives) in the abbey.
Architecture
The abbey church was built in the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhineland ...
Romanesque style and dates supposedly from the end of the 12th century (1190). The church has since been rebuilt several times, as a result of which the building shows some characteristics of
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
and
Baroque styles. The abbey was surrounded by walls, and partially surrounded by ditches.
Products of the abbey
Traditionally, Postel abbey produces Postel, the abbey beer. This beer is no longer brewed within the abbey itself but in a commercial brewery in
Opwijk
Opwijk () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Mazenzele and Opwijk proper. On January 1, 2012, Opwijk had a total population of 13,990. The total area is 19.69 km² whi ...
. The abbey also produces cheese. Since 1994, the monks have also exploited a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
of
medicinal plants, where they cultivate
ginseng.
See also
*
Averbode Abbey
*
List of carillons in Belgium
Carillons, musical instruments of bells in the percussion family, are found throughout Belgium. Several institutions maintain registries on the location and statistics of carillons. Some registries specialize in counting specific types of c ...
Sources
*
Postel Abbey official website*
{{Authority control
Christian monasteries in Antwerp Province
Premonstratensian monasteries in Belgium
Mol, Belgium