Salve Mater
by Mike Falkner
The Great Park of Lovenjoel is situated in the forested setting of the Molenbeek Valley near Lovenjoel, Belgium. The property was owned by the noble Spoelberch family who planted the property with many rare and exotic plant species including Swamp Cypress, rare species of Oak and Beech, Lime, Ash, Maple, Zelkova and a magnificent Magnolia Grandiflora.
The Park was established in 1915 by heirs to the Spoelbergh family and donated to the Catholic University of Leuven. It was subsuquently leased to the Ghent Sisters of Charity in order to build a womens hospital for teaching modern Psychiatry.
The plans of the new institution were drawn by architect Joseph Hachez and the Salve Mater was formally inaugurated in the summer of 1927. The attendees included Queen Elizibeth and numerous political, religious and academic dignitaries.
The hospital had been in the process of closing its doors since 1997, finally shedding the last of its last actual patients in 2007.
The premises are still owned by the university and renovations are under way to turn the buildings into living quarters. There are currently several rennovated buildings which are now residences and there is a child day-care onsite.
The missing main gate:
The institutions main gate was forged in 1836 by blacksmith Van Beeck. On top of the gate were the Spoelberch family shields attached to the Viscount de Spoelberch and his wife, Viscountess de Putte. Both segments of the wrought iron gate were stolen during broad daylight in November 1996. The gate has never been seen from again.