Rolduc Abbey

Rolduc was founded in 1104 by Ailbertus of Antoing as a house of Augustinian canons on the border with what is now Germany, and it grew into the largest abbey complex surviving in the Netherlands. The church is the reason to come: the crypt, consecrated in 1108, is one of the finest pieces of Romanesque architecture in the country, a low three-aisled space with columns carrying interlocking arches and carved capitals, and the choir above it has a trefoil plan of a kind found in the Rhineland and almost nowhere here. The abbey was suppressed by the French in 1796, stood empty for 35 years, became a seminary, and is now a conference and hotel complex owned by the diocese, with the buildings, the library and the church open on guided visits. Kerkrade sits on the old coalfield and the mining history of the district is close; the abbey played a part in the earliest coal mining here and worked coal itself from 1742.

History

In 1104 the young priest Ailbertus of Antoing founded an Augustinian abbey by the river Wurm, and its crypt was consecrated on 13 December 1108 by Otbert, bishop of Liège. The abbey flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries and owned more than 3,000 hectares of land by 1250; in about 1775 it employed 350 miners, and Ailbertus's body was brought back to rest in the crypt in 1895 (Wikipedia, Rolduc).

What to look for

• A crypt of 1108 - interlocking Romanesque arches on carved columns.
• A trefoil choir - a Rhineland plan almost unknown elsewhere in the Netherlands.
• The largest abbey complex here - buildings, cloister and library on one site.
• A monastic coal mine - the abbey worked its own coal from 1742.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Practical notes

It is a working conference hotel - access to the buildings is on guided tours at set times and events close areas. The church is open more freely. Kerkrade around it is a post-mining town.

Nearby

Aachen is across the German border; Heerlen is west.

Key facts