Abdij Rolduc

Rolduc is the name of a medieval abbey located on the edge of the town of Kerkrade in the far south-east of the Netherlands. It is today a Roman Catholic seminary with an affiliated conference center. The abbey is a rijksmonument (Dutch national heritage site).

In 1104, a young priest by the name of Ailbertus of Antoing founded an Augustinian abbey in the Land of Rode, near the river Wurm . The abbey was called Kloosterrade, which later became 's-Hertogenrade (in French: Rode-le-Duc or Rolduc), after the ducal castle that was built across the Wurm. In 1136 the land of Rode, including the abbey, became the property of the Duchy of Limburg. Kloosterrade was considered to be their family church. Several dukes of Limburg are buried at Rolduc.

The abbey was dissolved by the French in 1796 and the buildings was not used for 35 years. In 1815, when the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed, the border was drawn through the ancient land of Rode, separating the abbey from the castle.

In the 19th century Rolduc became a famous boarding school run by Jesuits, and a seminary of the Diocese of Roermond.

The former abbey is now a secondary school (Charlemagne College, formerly College Rolduc), a Roman Catholic seminary, and the Rolduc Congress Center.

Description

The 12th century abbey church is an example of Mosan art. The crypt and the choir and chancel above have a cloverleaf pattern. The interior of both the church and the crypt contains richly carved capitals. Remarkable is the fact that the columns in the crypt all have a different design. In 1853, the young architect Pierre Cuypers was commissioned to restore the crypt and to reinstate as much as possible the original Romanesque fabric.

The cloisters are largely 18th century. The abbey has a richly decorated Rococo library with an important collection of books. During the Middle Ages, the Rolduc library was one of the most famous libraries in the Meuse region. The history of the abbey was recorded in the so-called Annales Rodenses, a chronicle about the years 1104 through 1157.