Our Lady Hospital

You are currently on the grounds of AZ Oudenaarde, the local hospital.

Unless you would like to see the inside of our hospital, it is best to find a safe place to learn more about the history of the site. This passageway is still used by people entering and leaving the hospital.

The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwhospitaal is the result of various construction phases from the 15th to the 19th century and reflects the turbulent history of religious institutions.

Here, care was provided by nuns of noble descent, the Bernardine Sisters. The congregation was founded in the 13th century, when Canon Arnulfus established a refuge outside the city walls for travellers who could no longer find shelter after the city gates closed. After their former building was demolished in 1382, they moved to their current location within the city walls. It was only then that they began to devote themselves more to nursing. The word “hospital” therefore originally referred to hospitality. Behind the façade is a 16th-century cloister surrounding a monastery garden.