Read Between The Lines

Mariënlof Abbey is a cistercian nunnery in Kerniel (Borgloon). Orginally it was built for the order of the Holy Cross (Croisiers) in the fifteenth century, but in the nineteenth century it became a cistercian cloister. It houses several remarkable objects such as the shrine of Saint Odilia, dating of 1292 and the Chair of Saint Lutgard.

The Basilica Virga Jesse dates back to the 18th century. The Brotherhood of Our Lady built the Clerkenkapel in 1334 to venerate the statue of the Virgin Mary, Virga Jesse. From 1727 it was replaced by a church in late baroque and early classicist style. The church was completed in 1740. François-Xavier de Mérode. In November 1944 the church and the adjacent houses were severely damaged by a rocket. The reconstruction of the church was completed in 1951.

Already in the 7th century, a church was founded on the site of St. Quintinus Cathedral, which was replaced in the 11th century by the ancestor of the cathedral, initially built in the Romanesque style. In the 15th century, the choir was rebuilt and included an ambulatory and four chapels. The bell tower of the present church dates from 1725 and was restored in the 19th century. The church did not become a cathedral until the foundation of the diocese of Hasselt in 1967.