Hospital Notre Dame de la Rose Museum, Wallonia, Belgium
4.5 (271 reviews) Spent Ranking #1 in Hainaut Province Speciality Museums
A place you need to visit for time travel
We took a bus trip to Lessines, Belgium to see the Hospital Notre Dame à la Rose. It is a time travel back to the hospital movement which developed in Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. The oldest document in the hospital records is a charter (June 1243) of John d’Oudenaarde (son of Alix and Arnould) allocationg 100 pounds of annual income to the hospital, a considerable amount to be taken from the estates of Maubeuge an Feignies belonging to Alix. The institution of the hospital is certainly prior to that. You must have to visit this hospital. All most all the artifacts of this hospital are still there to see including the medical and pharmaceutical collections and a vast art collections. The tour is in 6 different languages.
Address
Place Alix de Rosoit, Lessines 7860 Belgium
Mobile
Website
http://www.notredamealarose.com/en/le-musee/
Current local date and time now
Saturday, May 11, 2024, 20:08
User Ratings
4.5 based on (271 reviews)
Reviews
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5Pernille I 5:00 PM Aug 1, 2021
Stunning monastic hospital museum
The old monastery and hospital of Notre Dame à la Rose is a truly impressive museum to visit today. It has so many different features, it is hard to quote them all! Built in the 13th century there is of course the impressive façade with its many wooden shutters, then the monastery garden built around a small cloister garden with the typical arcades around it. You will also visit a more traditional museum part with paintings and objects depicting the history of the place as well as its inhabitants. Another big part is consecrated to the main purpose of the place, which was a hospital up until the last nun left the place in the 1980's. This includes the kitchens, the pharmacy and apothecary, the sick rooms - where the beds are intelligently placed close to the chapel, so that the ill could attend mass from their beds. Outside there is a beautiful garden with hundreds of plants and herbs for medicinal purposes, with precise and detailed descriptions of their usage. The visit is accompanied by an audio guide, which gives very interesting and detailed information on every aspect of the life inside these walls. Of course there is a lot of history on medicine, but still there is so much more than that - just the pleasant atmosphere which permeated within these small communities is so nice to experience today. There is a small shop selling books as well wines from famous monasteries in Belgium and France; and you can also buy samples of the herbs and plants from the garden. The outer courtyard now houses a beautiful terrace with a small restaurant offering drinks and small dishes - not to mention their absolutely amazing ice-cream! There is so much to see you can easily plan for a half day and include a meal - and there is plenty for kids to do as well.
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4Peter S 5:00 PM Mar 2, 2019
Beautiful building and an interesting visit
The building itself is very attractive and well preserved or perhaps more accurately it has been tastefully restored. The visit itself concentrated more on the religious side than the medical. They do have some fascinating medical exhibits, but they are not given top billing. This is understandable, as it was a religious order, but they are good enough to warrant far greater prominence or their own museum. The cafe was reasonably priced and had a choice of tasty gluten free choices in addition other meals. Well worth a visit, but I would suggest waiting until spring so that there is more to see in the walled garden. There are audio tours of the main building in French, Dutch and English. All the items are also labelled in all 3 languages. The audio tour of the garden is not yet in English, but it is well signposted and when the herbs come into bloom, no guide will be needed. If you know your plants, there are pictures of each species and you can tell what they all are. Thoroughly recommended.
