Belgium Travel Blog Part 3 - Abbey

If I haven't convinced you that you need to visit Belgium, here are a few more reasons.

Among many other very old buildings we saw, our friends recommended we head to the ruined Abbey. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about going to see an abbey, much less one that was ruined but after we arrived, I was enchanted.

We headed to Villers Abbey or abbaye de Villers. This abbey was built in the 12th century and survived many wars before finally succumbing to French revolutionaries who raided it for stones at the end of the 18th century.


This is the entrance to the main church.




The picture below is taken from the opposite direction of the picture above. Our English pamphlet about the abbey told us that this was an excellent example of Cistercian architecture.


Here is a possible tomb but there were no signs around to explain its presence. I actually emailed the abbey about it. I will update this post if I get a response.


They had a wonderful exhibition going on called Abbeys from the Air. You can see some of the pictures of different abbeys on the wall below. They took different aerial pictures of abbeys all over the world (including Egypt). They were amazing photos with very interesting histories.

I love this picture of the vines draping over the window almost like ancient curtains.

Baby Bird enjoying sitting on a stone in a room believed to hold special holy relics. The stone shelves were still visible (although ironically not in this photo!).
I could show you 100 more photos and similes of the word beautiful of this peaceful place but I will let you discover it when you visit!

I still have one more Belgium post to go...TBC!