Past abbeys in the Merode area

The Hertberg is very varied with low iron sandstone hills and dune-like sandy soils. Coniferous, beech, silver birch, sessile and pedunculate oak are the most common trees here. The herb layer here is most beautifully developed with valley herb, cockleaf and white wood sorrel. Blueberries can be found in many places. Along forest edges and in bright places you will see many flowers such as hawkweed, goldenrod and rod. On some plains the common heath emerges en masse, along damp paths sometimes accompanied by heath, tormentil, blue knot and beautiful bell gentian. The area also contains some relics of old fens and ponds, the Witput, the Kwacht and the Rode Vis.

After all this nature it is time for a good dose of culture: the abbey of Tongerlo. Here you can't avoid getting off for a while. When you enter the beautiful courtyard of the abbey, under the late Romanesque and Gothic gatehouse, you immediately get an overview of the most important sights, such as the classicist abbot's house. The former entrance gate of the abbot's house gives access to the abbot's garden with the Da Vinci Museum, where the oldest replica of Leonardo da Vinci's mural The Last Supper is exhibited.

Meandering along water and forests you make a complete loop towards the starting point. Of course, before you return you should also stop at the famous Averbode Abbey. The abbey was founded in 1134 on the initiative of Arnold II, Count of Loon. It is an abbey of the Premonstratensians, also called Norbertines or Witheren. During the day you can freely visit the abbey courtyard and the abbey church. You are also welcome in the abbey bookstore located in the courtyard. Worth it, because your visit is a journey of discovery into the life of the Premonstratensians of Averbode. You are given an open view of the inspiration and motivations of the community, see what an abbey day looks like and what tasks are performed. You will also receive a lot of information about prayer life and the passionate commitment to fellow human beings. In short: here you see abbey life as it is.

No longer visible here, but originating from this abbey, is the special Passion altarpiece, which tells the Passion story of Jesus of Nazareth. The left panel shows his crucifixion, the wooden part the lamentation and the right panel his resurrection. It is not certain who painted the shutters and they may even be by different artists. The altarpiece is part of the collection of the Vleeshuis in Antwerp and in 2010 it was temporarily exhibited in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in the Scheldt city. Nowadays it is part of the exhibition of the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom) in Antwerp.