Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

THE BÉGUINE MOVEMENT

The béguine lifestyle swept

across western Europe dur-

ing the 13th century. The

order is believed to have

begun among widows of the

Crusaders who resorted to a

pious life of sisterhood on

the death of their husbands.

Single women opted for a

secluded existence devoted

to charitable deeds, but not

bound by strict religious

vows. They were free to

leave at any time, for

instance to marry. Many

béguine convents disap-

peared during the Protestant

Reformation, but begijnhofs

(béguinages) continued to thrive in Flanders. These areas

generally consisted of a church, a courtyard, communal

rooms and homes for the women. Brussels once had a

community of over 1,200 béguines, but the movement

dissolved as female emancipation spread during the early

1800s. The sites of a number of béguinages have survived,

including those in Bruges (see p113), Ghent (see p135),

Leuven (see p161) and Aarschot (see p162).

BRUSSELS 61

Baroque façade of Église St-Jean-Baptiste-au-Béguinage

Théâtre

Marionettes

de Toone 0

Impasse Ste-Pétronille, 66 Rue du

Marché-aux-Herbes, 1000 BRU.

City Map 2 D2. Tel (02) 5117137.

@ 27, 29, 38, 46, 48, 63, 86, 95.

q Bourse, Gare Centrale. v 3, 4,

31, 32, 33. # pub: noon–midnight;

theatre: 8:30pm Tue–Sat, 4pm Sat;

museum: performance intervals. &

8 on request, call (02) 2172753.

http://www.toone.be

During the period of the

Spanish Netherlands

(see pp40–41), all

theatres were shut

down to prevent

satirical perform-

ances targeting the

country’s Spanish

rulers. This gave

rise to a fashion

for puppet shows,

as the actors’

vicious dialogues

were more easily

forgiveable when

they came from

inanimate dolls.

In 1830, Antoine Toone

opened his own puppet

theatre and it has been run

by Toones ever since – the

present owner is the seventh

generation Toone. The clas-

sics are enacted today by

wooden marion ettes in the

local Bruxellois dialect, and

occasionally in French, Dutch,

English or German.

The puppet theatre and

museum occupy the top two

floors of the building, while

the ground floor is a popular

pub. The museum displays

retired marionnettes, some

dating to the 19th century.

Portrait of a béguine at prayer in

a Brussels béguinage

Harlequin

puppet

for up to 1,200 béguine
women. These were members
of a lay religious order who
took up charitable work and
enclosed living after failed
marriages or during widow-
hood. In medieval times, the

béguines here ran a laundry,

hospital and windmill for the

people of the city. Still a

popu lar place of worship,

the church is notable for its

Flemish Baroque details from

the 17th century, including

the onion-shaped turrets and

ornamental walls. The unusu-

ally wide aisles give it a light,

airy feeling inside. The nave,

which is also Baroque, is dec-

orated with ornate cherubs,

angels and scrolls, while the

confes sionals are carved with

allegorical figures and saints.

The apse contains a striking

statue of St John the Baptist,

and the 1757 pulpit, a fine

example of Baroque wood-

carving, depicts St Dominic

trampling a heretic underfoot.