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2007-10-30T03:10:56Z
VIOR
Een abdij onder het gras. Geofysische prospectie bij de evaluatie van verdwenen monumenten
Van Impe, Luc
Strutt, Kris
The abbey of Herkenrode, situated to the north-
west of Hasselt (B., prov. Limburg), is thought to have
been founded around 1182 AD. This foundation has
been attributed to Gerard, count of Loon (1171-1194),
and must have been undertaken during a period of ma-
jor political problems. Later on, during the 13th century, the abbey became the largest and richest Cistercian
complex for women in the Low Countries. Its importance is illustrated by the fact that the abbey remained
the burial place for a number of members from the
countal family of Loon. Many of the medieval structures of the abbey have been described in historical
documents and are depicted on figurative maps.
Prior to the planned rebuilding of the abbey, during the 18th century, part of the complex was destroyed to make way for new structures. However, this
rebuilding has never been realised due to the political
upheaval towards the end of that century. After the
French Revolution, the abbey was sold and some of
the remaining buildings were used for industrial and
agricultural purposes. Ultimately, the central part of
the medieval abbey church, cloister, kitchen, refectory, priests and guests houses, mill, brewery has
been completely destroyed.
In 2003, the Flemish Heritage Institute (Vlaams
Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed, the successor
of the former Instituut voor het Archeologisch Patrimonium) ordered a geophysical survey by the Archaeological Prospection Services of the University of
Southampton. This survey was designed to see whether
the subsurface remains of the medieval structures could
be identified and evaluated. Two types of geophysical
prospection techniques were applied: resistivity measurements and magnetometry. Subsequently, the contrasting results of both techniques were compared,
evaluated and integrated.
The exact location of the church, the cloister, and
service buildings were recorded, together with some
strong rooms and cellars. The results, showing a relatively good preservation of the subsurface structures
will be used for excavation planning. The archaeological
research will contribute to the touristic and economic revaluation of the abbey complex, as planned by the Stichting Vlaams Erfgoed (Flemish Heritage Foundation).
VIOE
2006-01-01
text
application/pdf
https://id.erfgoed.net/infocat/publicaties/204
https://oar.onroerenderfgoed.be/publicaties/VIOR/2/VIOR002-003.pdf
Van Impe L. & Strutt K. 2006: Centrale Archeologische Inventaris (CAI) II. Thematisch inventarisatie- en evaluatieonderzoek, VIOE-Rapporten 02, Brussel, 29-34.
ISSN:1781 4936
nl-BE
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