Notes, thoughts and commentaries from the travels of Joseph Connolly and Terry Pochert
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Our travels through the Netherlands included a short stay with our friends in the city of Eindhoven. Our friends, Jolanda and Jan, kindly gave us a tour of the many sites in the area including this wonderful little chapel. Although we are not Catholic, we are still awed by the reverence and peaceful area to contemplate and pray. An amazing chapel to visit.
The Holy Cross Chapel
The chapel is situated in what is now known as the Heilig-Kruispark, built in 1953–1954 on the foundations of an earlier monastic chapel, part of the medieval Priorij van Hooidonk founded in 1146.
The site features an open-air chapel with three-sided round-arch entrances, a small iron bell-tower with a fire-bell from 1793, and side windows in stained-glass that incorporate fragments found during excavations. Architect H.W. Valk designed the neoromanesque-style chapel (sometimes described in the tradition of “Wederopbouwarchitectuur”).
The surrounding park, designed in the late 1950s, includes 14 Stations of the Cross by Piet Schoenmakers, and a landscape layout typical of memorial and devotional grounds.
A statue of Mary can be seen in the associated park and surrounding grouds.
The chapel in Hooidonk is part of the former priory known as Priorij Hooidonk, located in the hamlet of Hooidonk, within the municipality of Son en Breugel in North Brabant, Netherlands. This site is notable for its historical and religious significance.
Pilgrimage of the Holy Cross Relic, Gerwen-Hooidonk – Every year on the first Sunday of September, a solemn procession marks the opening of the church year for the Heilig Kruis parish [H. Lambertus Kerk] at this site, commemorating its ecclesiastical and devotional legacy
Nearby a watermill with the name Hooidonkse watermolen. Yup, it sounds like watermelon but it is really Dutch for Waterwheel.
We are ever so thankful for our host Jolanda and Jan for helping us to discover this peaceful place. This is also the site they had their own wedding pictures taken.
References:
- Address: Hooijdonk 10, 5674 PE Nuenen, Netherlands (Google Maps)
- Announcement for Celebration on August 27, 2025 (PDF)
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