Sint-Vincentius Kindertehuis
THE ABANDONED MONASTERY IN BELGIUM
‘Kindertehuis Sint-Vincentius’ is an old monastery built by the Sisters of Sint Vincentius de Paolo. The abandoned part of the monastery was demolished in 2017.
The sisters, living in this old monastery, started in 1903 with the care of parentless children. First, they took them in their own homes. However, soon the number of children started to grow, and they had to build a wing to the monastery. During the First World War, the sisters housed 270 orphans. As a result, they were forced to build a second and third wing. Around 1960 the orphanage was renamed to ‘Sint-Vincentius’. Thereupon, the large communal groups were split into several smaller groups. As a result, the kids were housed in separate buildings on the campus.
Sexual abuse
Eventually in 1971 two new pavilions were built for two groups. Later a daycare group was opened. In 2011 the court started an investigation following a complaint about sexual abuse by nuns in the 1950s and 1960s. In 2008 one wing was abandoned until it was demolished in 2017. The other buildings are still in use by the same organization. These photos of the old Sint-Vincentius orphanage were taken in 2014.
