Sint-Vincentius Kindertehuis
THE ABANDONED MONASTERY IN BELGIUM
‘Kindertehuis Sint-Vincentius’ is an old monastery built by the Sisters of Sint Vincentius de Paolo. The abandoned part of the monastery was demolished in 2017.
The sisters, who resided in the ancient monastery, began caring for parentless children in 1903. Initially, they welcomed the children into their own homes. However, as the number of children increased, they had to construct an additional wing to the monastery. During the First World War, the sisters provided shelter for 270 orphans. Consequently, they were compelled to add a second and third wing. By the 1960s, the orphanage was renamed ‘Sint-Vincentius’. Subsequently, the large communal groups were divided into smaller groups, with the children being accommodated in separate buildings on the campus.
Sexual abuse
In 1971, builders constructed two new pavilions for two groups. Later, they opened a daycare group. In 2011, the court started investigating a complaint about sexual abuse by nuns in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 2008, one wing was abandoned and later demolished in 2017. The same organization still uses the other buildings. I took these photos of the old abandoned orphanage in 2014.
