Through the gate and just at left is a reconstructed house that looks pretty much as it did for the hundreds of years that it housed Beguines. Here is a view looking out of the hose, with its lace curtains no doubt made by the industrious Beguines, looking out over the moat.
And another view into the central square with its flowers:
Inside there is a courtyard with a well, and across that courtyard a bedroom with bed:
On the wall are some pictures of Beguines in their habits (now you can see why the color scheme for these pages?):
Meetings were held in a chapter house, a house with a decoration above its door:
It sits in a corner of the Beguinage:
One of the things that made Beguinages hard to control was the popularity of the movement, Beguinages overwhelmed the capacity of local churches and clergy to watch over and, yes, control them. The more successful Beguinages in what are now Holland and Belgium had their own churches and clergy assigned, and were in essence their own parishes. I took several pictures inside the church that sits in the enclosure, only one of which came out decent. Every decorative item in the church was the work of one or another local master, whether it was a painting, stone sculpture, or wood carving:
Why was this particular Beguinage so highly favored? Because it came under the personal protection of the King of France. The other gate commemorates this fact, dating back to the 1200's, and says "Prinselyk Begijnhof de Wijngaarde, gesticht ten jare MCCXXXXV" (Princely [meaning Royal] Beguinage at the Vineyard, founded in the year 1245):
Now that we entered the Beguinage on one side and exited on the other, it is time to go back in and relax, forget the facts, and just enjoy the ambiance of the place.