Nederland - Sint Agatha, kloostertuin

The Kruisherenklooster (Monastery of the Crosiers, formally known as the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross) in Sint Agatha is dating back to 1315. In that year there was already a chapel dedicated to St. Agatha. Around 1371, some monks came to live near the chapel to attend it. The monastery of the Order of the Holy Cross arose from this little chapel. The monastery is still in use and is therefore the oldest monastery in the Netherlands still inhabited by clergy.

From the 18th century onwards, the monastic garden was laid out. It is enclosed by a wall. It contains orchards, vegetable gardens and fish ponds, while until 1985 farm buildings were also located within the garden. A number of Crosiers practised gardening. The garden is also a reminder of religious matters. The boxwood hedges are cut in shapes like a cross on a globe, a snake, a ship and so on.

The garden has an area of 2.5 ha and offers, apart from a lot of nice and colourful flowers, also a number of monumental trees, such as a 150-year-old tulip tree, a red and a green beech and an old oak. The monks were self-sufficient and for centuries lived largely off the proceeds of the land: a vegetable garden, fruit trees, fish ponds, chicken coops and beehives.