Villers Abbey

The abbey’s origins date back to 1146 A.D. when the first monastic order settled in the wooded hamlet with just one abbot and 12 monks. This small tribe of a faithful few were joined by others until the order grew to include some 100 monks and 300 laymen overseeing thousands of acres. Managing the land well gave the order the funds to construct an extensive monastic complex, most of which was built in the 13th century. The order thrived for several hundred years - even building more structures some 400 years after the first were built. However, French revolutionaries pillaged the monastery in 1794 A.D. and over the subseqent years, the Abbey lost its appeal as a monastic sanctuary. Today, the Abbey resembles something akin to a scene out of a ‘King Arthur’ movie…tall stone buildings stand abandoned to their former glory with modern-day pilgrims walking through the grounds in Oxfords and tennis shoes. No other place in Belgium allows us to feel as though we’ve stepped back in time to a place where allegiances were made and broken with a sword, life was cheap and short, and commitment to church and God were enduringly simple.