Begijnhof

The Begijnhof was founded in the 14th century — first documented in 1389 — as a residential courtyard for the Beguines, a lay religious community of unmarried or widowed women who lived communally, took no formal vows and supported themselves through charitable and craft work rather than joining a convent outright. Originally almost entirely surrounded by water, with only one bridge granting access, it functioned as a semi-enclosed community sitting a full metre below the surrounding modern street level — the original medieval ground height, preserved by never being built up over.

Remarkably, it survives today as a genuinely lived-in residential courtyard rather than a museum piece: around 105 women, no longer nuns but still exclusively female residents under the Begijnhof's historic charter, currently live in the 17th- and 18th-century houses ringing the central garden, meaning visitors are guests in someone's home neighbourhood rather than tourists in an open-air exhibit.