Abdij van Middelburg - Middelburg, NL
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N 51° 30.027 E 003° 36.899
31U E 542687 N 5705658
This is the Abbey of Middelburg, built in 1127. Currently in use as the provincial government and houses the Zeeuws Museum.
Waymark Code: WM14MMY
Location: Zeeland, Netherlands
Date Posted: 07/27/2021
Views: 2
The Abbey of Middelburg ( Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe-abdij) is a former abbey in Middelburg in Zeeland that now houses the provincial government and the Zeeuws Museum.
The complex is located in the middle of the city and consists of a more or less circular building with four large and a small tower and various gates with a square in the middle, the Abdijplein, with large trees. The abbey tower, called the Lange Jan, and two churches, the Koorkerk and the Nieuwe Kerk, form part of the Abbey.
History
Since 1100 monks in Middelburg already had a monastery. In 1127 the Premonstratensians from St Michael's Abbey in Antwerp settled here. In 1401 the abbey came directly under the Pope. One of the abbots was Nicolaas van der Burch (Nicolaas de Castro), who was appointed first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Middelburg in 1559 (its cathedral became the Sint-Pieters- or Noordmonsterkerk).
In 1574, monastic life came to an end after the prolonged Siege of Middelburg (1572-1574), which ultimately resulted in the capitulation of the pro-Spanish Catholic city. Despite guarantees from William of Orange that the clergy would be left untouched, the abbey and Catholic faith in it were forcibly terminated.
The abbey was subsequently renamed Het Hof van Zeeland and was taken over by the regional government of Zeeland. The abbey served as the seat of the States of Zeeland and the Committed Councils and several related administrative councils, such as the Admiralty of Zeeland, and it also housed other regional institutions such as the Mint and the Court of Audit. Their meeting room was thoroughly renovated in 1784-1785 by the Zeeland landscape architect Coenraad Kayser.
The Provincial Council of Zeeland has been located there since 1812 and the complex is also known as the Provincial House. The complex has been restored several times, most recently after the destruction caused by the fire as a result of the bombing of Middelburg on 17 May 1940. Until the end of the twentieth century, it also housed a number of government services, such as the Land Registry and the State Archives in Zeeland. Since 1972, part of the complex has housed the Zeeuws Museum, in 1986 the Roosevelt Study Center was housed in another part.
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