Brussels - Abbaye de la Cambre / Abdij ter Kameren

In 1200, in what was then a small valley between the Etangs d'Ixelles (the little lakes now situated at the end of the Chaussée d'Ixelles) and the Bois de la Cambre which today forms an oasis of tranquility amidst the city traffic, Cistercian nuns founded an abbey. It was destroyed in the 16th C. but then rebuilt. Now, set in lovely French gardens, it houses the National Geographical Institute and an art college. The former abbey church (14th C.) is a slender, elegant building with Baroque vaulting. Inside can be seen a painting by Albert Bouts ("The Mocking of Christ") and the shrine of St Boniface, a 13th C. Bishop of Brussels. The windows of the cloister are decorated with the arms of over 40 abbesses and nuns.