Heilige Gertrudis

The synagogue near the market was consecrated in the year 1875. The side wall of the building is provided with buttresses situated in between rounded arched windows. The front façade is topped by three turrets and contains the Stone Tablets with Roman numerals above a small rounded arched window. The Jewish community of Geertruidenberg ceased to exist in 1947. Two years later, the building was sold to the municipality and was transformed into a fire brigade garage. During this time, the large entrance gate was added in the front façade which can still be seen. The interior of the building was drastically renovated in 1980 which now serves as an office building.

The majestic Geertruidskerk is located in the fortified town of Geertruidenberg and is situated on one of the largest historical market squares in the Netherlands, lined with centuries old lime trees. Here you can experience and taste the past in Holland's oldest city!

Before the Reformation, the Geertruidskerk was called the Sint Gertrudiskerk and was dedicated to Gertrud or Gertrudis of Nijvel and of Geertruidenberg (626-659). In 640, she founded an abbey - with her mother - in Nijvel, on the southern border of the Duchy of Brabant, and became abbess at the age of 21. When her father wanted to marry her off in 1640, she refused and fled. During this flight, she is said to have landed on the river Donge by boat at the height of a 'mountain'. She remained there for the rest of her life to meditate and founded a hermitage there. The travelling bishop Amandus is said to have built a chapel at that location. The city owes its name to this legend, the Berg van Geertruid: Geertruidenberg. However, archaeological research has so far only yielded traces of inhabitants from 350 years later. There is also no historical connection between the Abbey of Nijvel and Geertruidenberg.