Drongen Abbey

Drongen Abbey, or the Old Abbey, Drongen (Dutch: Abdij van Drongen, Oude Abdij van Drongen), is a monastic complex on the River Leie in Drongen, a part of the city of Ghent in East Flanders, Belgium.

Formerly a Premonstratensian abbey, since 1837 the premises have belonged to the Jesuits. In 1998 the whole property, including the garden, was declared a protected monument.

In the Middle Ages there were two legends regarding the abbey's foundation in the 7th century. According to one, the abbey was built by a certain Basinus, king of Basotes; according to the other, its founder was Saint Amandus, who also founded in Ghent during the same period St. Peter's Abbey and St. Bavo's Abbey. The first occupants were secular canons. The Normans destroyed the abbey in 853 but under Baldwin II, Count of Flanders (879–918), lord of Drongen, it was rebuilt.

In 1136 Iwein, Count of Aalst, lord of Waas, Drongen and Liedekerke, founded a Premonstratensian abbey at Salegem (Vrasene, Beveren). Two years later, in 1138, the new abbey was moved to Drongen, when the canons accepted the Premonstratensian rules.

In 1566 the abbey suffered from the Beeldenstormer (Iconoclasts), and in 1578, during the Ghent Republic, the Calvinists drove out the fathers, who took refuge in the Hof van Drongen, and destroyed the abbey. Its possessions fell into the hands of William the Silent, but were given back by his heirs.

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