Dieleghem Abbey

The mansion of the abbot is the only remaining building of Dieleghem Abbey

Dieleghem Abbey is a former abbey in Jette, northwestern Brussels, Belgium.

History

The oldest reference to the abbey dates from 1095, when the Bishop of Cambrai issued a charter in its favour. Initially administered by Augustinian canons, in 1140, the abbey’s monks switched to the rules of the Premonstratensian order. In the 13th century, the abbey now called Dieleghem possessed half of the commune’s territory and played an important social and economic role until the French Revolution. The abbots, mitred from 1532, sat in the States of Brabant.

In November 1796, the Canons Regular were evicted and deported to an island off the shores of Brittany.^[1] The abbey in Dieleghem was looted and subsequently destroyed, sparing only the abbot's residence. Other abbeys in Flanders, like Afflighem, Grimbergen and Groot-Bijgaarden, shared a similar fate.

The former residence of the abbot now houses the collections of the museum of the County of Jette.^[2]

Dieleghem Abbey, engraving by Lucas Vorsterman II, published in Sanderus, 'Chorographia sacra Brabantiae (1659)

Further reading

• G. Paulus, De abdij van Dielegem, in the series Brussel, stad van kunst en geschiendenis, 41 (Brussels, 2005), 48p. ISBN 978-2-96005-028-8
• G. Paulus, L’abbaye de Dieleghem, in the series Bruxelles, ville d’art et d’histoire (Brussels, 2005), 48 p.
• G. Paulus, Jette, in the series Guides des communes de la Région bruxelloise (Brussels, 2000), 83 p.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dieleghem Abbey.

External links

• County of Jette Communal Museum, brusselsmuseums.be
• De abdij van Dielegem, erfgoed.brussels
• Abdij van Dielegem, irisnet.be

Coordinates: 50°53′02″N 4°19′10″E / 50.88389°N 4.31944°E / 50.88389; 4.31944