Jesuit monastery in Valkenburg

The former Jesuit monastery in Valkenburg was not a building you could simply walk into. Several photographers tried to arrange access through the resident, but permission was almost never given. The owner did not want visitors in the complex, and the condition of the building was an important reason.

Before the complex was closed off again, photographer Anita van Rennes and I were allowed to photograph it on one occasion. That permission applied to our visit. It was not a public opening or an invitation to try your luck afterwards.

A large college outside Germany

The foundation stone of the Ignatius College was laid on 1 May 1893. Architect Hürth designed it and contractor Hubert Habets carried out the work. Millions of bricks were used for the enormous complex, fired beside the building site.

The German Jesuits had left their country because of the Kulturkampf. During that period, several monasteries and training houses were established in Limburg for communities unable to remain in Germany. The Valkenburg college was intended for the order’s education and training and included a substantial library.

So this was far more than accommodation for a few priests. Behind the long façade were teaching rooms, living quarters and facilities for a large community. That helps explain the scale of the corridors and rooms.

Different occupants, different traces

During the occupation, the Jesuits were expelled and the SS used the building as an educational institute. Its wartime history needs careful handling: stories circulate about aspects of it that are not all equally well supported. A photograph of a corridor does not prove a story about what supposedly happened there.

Other occupants and uses followed after the war. The Franciscan Sisters of St Joseph established a convent with a care home. Later, the complex passed to the Transcendental Meditation movement. A major fire in 2001 badly damaged part of the roof and changed the building’s condition again.

At the time of my report, plans for a hotel had been presented. A limited part was accessible during an open day. Permission for the rest of our photographic visit was an exception. The owner stressed that he did not want to admit other photographers.

That distinction belongs with these photographs. A building may look abandoned while still having an owner, a resident and rules. Here, permission was the reason we could work inside.

I would like to thank the owner and the resident once again for that opportunity. The series records a stage you cannot recreate once a complex is converted. The damage and the different periods of use are part of the building as we found it.

My own photographs from this report are available under CC BY 4.0. You may reuse them with the required attribution and subject to the other conditions. Permission to use a photograph naturally does not grant access to the building in it.

Sources and background

• Langs Heilige Huizen — Jezuïetenklooster
• Monumenten in Nederland — Limburg