Postel Abbey

The Abbey is a Premonstratensian abbey of Postel in the Belgian municipality of Mol

History

In 1138 founded Prämonstratensische canons of the Abbey Floreffe Postel in a monastery as a dependent priory of their abbey. In 1613, Postel was independent of Floreffe 1618 and received the status of an abbey. 1797, the abbey was closed and the canons were displaced as a result of the French Revolution, when French troops occupied the Austrian Netherlands. The building came in 1797 in private ownership, the Order in 1847 but were returned. After that, the buildings have been restored and rebuilt in several phases.

From 1943 until the end of World War II Herman Van Breda could hide parts of the manuscripts by Edmund Husserl in the Abbey; these known as Husserl archives works are now in the possession of the Catholic University of Leuven.

Architecture

The abbey church was built in the Romanesque style, its construction dates back to the late 12th century around 1190. Since that time it has been rebuilt several times and today also shows Gothic and Baroque elements. The Abbey was surrounded by ramparts and partly by a moat.

Products of the Abbey

In the past, the abbey known as Postel abbey beer produced long myself, but had to sell the 1943 copper brewing vats. The beer is produced for some time in a private brewery in Opwijk. In addition, in the Abbey arises also a well known under the name Abbey cheese. In 1994, a herb garden with medically useful plants, in which, among other things, ginseng is grown.