You are here:
Abbeys > Belgium > Liège > Aubel > Val Dieu

Val Dieu

The Notre Dame du Val Dieu Abbey was founded in 1216 by monks established in Hocht near Maastricht. These Cistercians came from Eberbach (Germany), abbey founded by St. Bernard. Straddling the County of Dalhem and the Duchy of Limburg, the foundation of the Val-Dieu will be the start of the clearing that will result in the face so characteristic of the Pays de Herve. The monastery escaped no conflicts: battles between feudal lords, wars of succession and religion to finally know the dispersion during the French Revolution. The church will be destroyed or burned down four times, each time rebuilt to take the current configuration which remains, for the most part, as do the convent premises, in accordance with the original Cistercian plan. After the revolutionary upheaval, the restoration of the abbey and the return of monks in the middle of the nineteenth century enabled the Val-Dieu site to remain the only original Cistercian site still alive in Belgium in its historic buildings. In 2001, the Cistercian order entrusted the abbey to the Christian Community of Val-Dieu. This one is more particularly linked to the ND Lerins Abbey, near Cannes. The Val Dieu Abbey, located at the geographic center of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, is very popular: many pilgrims frequent its basilica, many tourists visit this place. By perpe-tuating the presence of a community of life and prayer, the Christian Community of Val Dieu would humbly serve the motto of the abbey: In vinculo pacis - In the bond of peace.