Museum of Religious Art

The province of Brabant used to be full of monasteries. However, the majority of these remarkable buildings have been given a new vocation by now. One of the few women’s convents that's still active is located in Uden, southeast of Den Bosch. Six sisters of the Bridgettine Order devoted to the Passion of Jesus Christ in the Maria Refugie Abbey maintain age-old traditions here. Isolated from the outside world behind thick iron bars, they still live an austere life in the service of God and wear rather odd caps. For Holland this is a first class cultural example of how medieval thinking, Bridgettine spirituality and the 21st century can harmoniously coexist. The old wings of the abbey have been renovated for use as the Museum of Religious Art, which has displayed religious art and church artefacts since 1973. The small, yet impressive museum houses a large number of medieval sculptures, a group of extremely rare monstrances dated to around 1500, a large collection of popular devotional objects, including tens of thousands of In Memoriam cards, and numerous papers and documents illustrating the history of the abbey and the region. The collections of icons and modern religious art are exceptional and the herb garden with more than 150 different varieties of plants is also worth a visit.