Flemish Béguinages

The Béguines chose a third way between marriage and the convent: pious laywomen who lived in community without taking permanent vows. From the 13th century they built béguinages across Flanders — walled miniature towns of modest houses, a church, courtyards and greens — supporting themselves by work and prayer. Thirteen of these serene enclosures, from Bruges to Leuven, were inscribed together by UNESCO in 1998 as testimony to a remarkable medieval women's movement.