Our Monastery Trail: circular tour Oirschot

Explore the Nazareth monastery and the Holy Oak pilgrimage place in Oirschot.

( 2 hour 10 minutes ) 9.8 km

Starting point: from your location

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About holy blood and religious knights
This tour of the monastery shows you the splendour of nature as well as the historic buildings near the Nazareth monastery in Oirschot. You begin at the beautiful Nazareth monastery and follow the route past the Holy Oak pilgrimage place, Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Huis Den Beyerd Chapel – Sint Joris (Saint George) Hospital.

Experience monastic life
Monastic life has brought much to Brabant. Get to know the stories of local monastic life while walking. Our Monastery Trail takes you past fifty historic monasteries and abbeys in fifteen stages. There are also beautiful shorter walks around various monasteries and convents. Each circular walk is described on a separate route map.

Finding the way with numbered junctions
This walking route has been set out using the numbered junction network in Brabant. Simply follow the route via the signposted junctions, from one number to the next. There are also signposts between the junctions to help you find your way.

Hotline routes
Hotline routes
If there is something wrong on the route, report it here.

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Sights on this route

Klooster Nazareth

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Holy Oak pilgrimage place

Pilgrimage place

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Blijendaal Carmelite

Carmelite

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St. Peter's Basilica

Whichever side you approach Oirschot from, the imposing St. Peter's Basilica always towers above historic Oirschot. Anyone who sees the Basilica for the first time will be surprised by its size and appeal.

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Museum de Vier Quartieren

If you want to discover how Vincent van Gogh saw life in Brabant, Museum de Vier Quartieren is a place you shouldn’t miss.

Museum de Vier Quartieren

Huis Den Beyerd – Sint Joris (Saint George) Hospital

Huis Den Beyerd

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The Solms palace

The Solms palace

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Klooster Nazareth

Story of the route

Klooster Nazareth

The Nazareth monastery
For more than two hundred years, the Sisters of St. Francis have resided at the Koestraat in Oirschot. These sisters left their convent in Weert in 1797, fleeing from acts of war. Their congregation had been founded in 1623, their spiritual example being Saint Francis of Assisi. The sisters have made important contributions throughout the centuries, among them contributions to healthcare and education. The nearby Oirsprong (the former Heilige Engelbewaardersschool or Holy Guardian Angels School) and the Solms palace are examples of these contributions. The current monastery is now a national monument and was built between 1910-1931.
Holy Oak pilgrimage place
Legend has it that shepherds found a statue of the Virgin Mary on the banks of the Beerze river. They placed the statue in an oak tree. Inhabitants of Oostelbeers took the statue to their church. But a miracle happened: the next morning the statute had returned to the oak tree. It became a place of pilgrimage.
Blijendaal Carmelite
In 1644, Maria van Valkenisse founded a Carmelite nunnery in the Huis Blijendaal in Oirschot. This sister led a life of extreme fasting and physical suffering. She was dubbed the Holy Nun because of her mystical gifts.
Town hall
Construction on the town hall began in 1513. The ground floor initially served as a covered market.
Saint Peter’s Basilica
Because expansion of the Maria Church (now called the Butter Church) was not possible, Saint Peter’s Basilica was built in 1268. It burned down in 1462, and valuable documents and art objects were lost in the fire. Due to a lack of funds, the new church was not finished until 1515. Saint Peter’s Basilica is one of the larger Gothic village churches still standing in North Brabant.
Museum De Vier Quartieren
Museum De Vier Quartieren tells the story of the Brabant farmers’ lives as seen through the eyes of Vincent van Gogh. It is located in a 16th-century chapter house with an attractive enclosed garden.
Huis Den Beyerd – Sint Joris (Saint George) Hospital
As recorded in the last will and testament of Rogier van Leefdael, the Lord of Oirschot, the Sint Joris hospital was founded in 1333. However, nothing remains of the medieval hospital. The oldest building is now Den Beyerd (15th century) on the Gasthuisstraat. Den Beyerd served as a dining hall and residence hall for guests and was part of the hospital for the pauperes Christi, the poor of Christ.
The Sint Joris (Saint George) Hospital Chapel
Of the original Sint Joris nursing home, only the chapel remains.
The Butter Church
The rather unpretentious Butter Church is located at the Vrijthof in Oirschot. This Roman church (which has no aisles) was built out of tuff, a light porous rock, in the 12th century, and is one of the oldest in North Brabant. From 1664 to 1799, the building was used as a weigh house for butter, hence the name Butter Church.
The Solms palace
The Solms palace is a city palace dating from 1663, named after Amalia van Solms. She gifted it to physician Arnold Fey, who had it built, sponsored by Amalia because he had saved her life. In 1904, the Franciscans bought the building and established a nursing home and hospital for elderly and ill sisters in it. They called it the Saint Francis palace.

Klooster Nazareth

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