Credit: Meeting in Mechelen
Photography: Koen Van Damme
Photography: Inneke Gebruers
Photography: Inneke Gebruers
Photography: James Van Leuven
Photography: Koen Broos
Credit: Kempen Landscape Foundation
Halfway between Brussels and Antwerp lies the village of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver, which takes its name from the neo-Gothic Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Waver church. But its greatest heritage is the sprawling Ursuline convent school and the Winter Garden, an Art Nouveau gem built in 1900 for the Ursuline nuns. After a two-year renovation, the palm-filled Winter Garden is open to the public for the first time, attracting architecture and design enthusiasts to this tranquil Flemish neighbourhood.
Belgium was a global centre for Art Nouveau when the sisters commissioned a local group of architects and decorators to extend their girls’ boarding school with an elegant, welcoming reception – suitably grand for the international families who wanted to enrol their daughters there. The light-filled tiled annex, framed with elaborately carved wood and etched glass, centred on a long stained-glass ceiling with ‘morning’ themes on one side and ‘evening’ images on the other. Forgoing more traditional religious styles was a bold choice for the sisters, but they were ambitious supporters of the ‘l’art à l’école’ movement, which advocated a modern, youthful, stimulating environment for education.
The region was at the front during the First World War. And although the school suffered much damage, the vaulted stained glass ceiling was remarkably well preserved. In 1987 it was given listed status, along with the Empire Corridor, Alpine Room, refectory, Piano Gallery and Grand Staircase.
Visitors are welcome to explore the entire 10-hectare site after the Winter Garden opens permanently on July 24.
Photography: Paul Jordens
Photography: Inneke Gebruers
Photography: Inneke Gebruers
Photography: Paul Jordens
Photography: Inneke Gebruers
Photography: Paul Jordens
