Saturday, June 23, 2007

(B) Mechelen, Predikheren/Dominican monastery


The Dominican Order, or Predikheren is a Catholic religious order, created by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France.
In 1736 the Dominicans monastery was built in Mechelen. The west wing, the church of the monastery, was never completed.

In 1796 the French occupiers took the buildings and closed the monastery. The buildings later were sold to a religious group that used the monastery as a home for elderly men.

In 1809 the buildings were used as a military hospital and the church in 1814 as a military arsenal. That's why it's also called the General Delobbe-baracks.

The monastery has kept its military use until 1977. The last 30 years the buildings haven't been used, only some theatre projects were held in the church.

(Source:http://www.urbex.nl)

In May 2001 the buildings were sold to a property developer who would build an office complex, but that never happened.
In July 2005 the city of Mechelen bought it back, in order to find a solution to guard the buildings from further decay.

Up till now nothing has happened to the buildings, except for natural decay. Local youth seems to use it as a shelter, too.

~

It was fairly easy to enter. On the internet I always read that people find an entrance though a cellar window, but we just had to climb upon a bike that was left against a wall, and jump through an open window.
We first entered the church of which the windows were masked with plates, so it was pretty dark in there. Just as we had seen on photos on the internet, we lit small candles at the pillars to have more light and to create some kind of 'special effect'.
But with a cam with a maxium shutter time of 15 seconds, trouble focusing and generating lots of noise in dark areas, I wasn't able to get a good shot... gotta go back when I have a new camera ;-)

Then we wandered through the rest of the building, most lovely was the green hall as you can see in the photo above. Most rooms and halls were dark (all windows are masked), it was a strange experience, thinking of all things that had been going on here in former times.

Finally we entered the huge attic, completely made out of wood and with 'no smoking' texts.
At this point we heard lots of noises downstairs, as if some vandals were busy, eh, vandalising. Quite scary if you ask me, but we went on photographing.

Back downstairs we saw that local youth had been there, eating and drinking and making some mess, but nothing really vandalised. There was still one of them talking into his cellphone, but he and we acted as if it was the most normal thing being there - and in fact, why not.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Experts advise regarding offering any sort of crucial information on the telephone, through electronic mail, maybe in man or woman except if that you are really absolutely clear on the motives of the people demanding the knowledge. At the same time you will find protecting steps to guide you in cases where a thing fails, on the other hand fundamentally, remaining hands-on regarding your budget and details are undoubtedly the only assurance next to shielding the information from stepping into both your hands with incorrect men and women.

http://gurgenagackoyu.org/Alta7W
http://dangag.dk/index.php?do=/blog/325/money-advance-fast-simple-method-to-tackle-emergency-by-the-due-date/

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was once a amusement account it.

Look complex to far brought agreeable from you! By the way, how could we keep in touch?
Check out my page : www.wikicocina.com.ar

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I check your blog on a regular basis.
Your story-telling style is witty, keep up the good work!
Here is my website ... Seo Specialist

Anonymous said...

Post writing is also a fun, if you be familiar with after that you can write otherwise it
is complicated to write.

Feel free to visit my weblog :: http://www.soziologie.uni-halle.de/

Anonymous said...

I must thank you for the efforts you've put in writing this blog. I am hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts from you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own site now ;)

my web page ... Shop Online once

Anonymous said...

I think the admin of this web page is truly working hard in favor
of his website, as here every material is quality based data.



Also visit my web-site :: takemassageclasses.com

Anonymous said...

A person necessarily lend a hand to make severely posts I might state.
That is the first time I frequented your website page and up to now?

I amazed with the research you made to create this actual post amazing.
Great job!

My blog post ... Suggested Looking at

Anonymous said...

Hmm it looks like your site ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I'll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I'm thoroughly enjoying your blog.

I too am an aspiring blog writer but I'm still new to everything. Do you have any tips and hints for beginner blog writers? I'd definitely appreciate
it.

My site: visit the Following post

Anonymous said...

You can certainly see your skills in the work you write.

The arena hopes for even more passionate writers
like you who are not afraid to say how they believe.
Always go after your heart.

Also visit my page - click through the next post