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 in 1830, 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 ran a coal mine of its own from the twelfth century.

What you actually see

• 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 coal from the twelfth century.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

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.