Founded in 1216 by Cistercian monks. The Abbey of Our Lady of Val-Dieu is a haven of peace in the heart of the Herve country. It is located in the middle of the Liège-Maastricht-Aachen triangle.
Since the departure of the monks in 2001, the abbey has been revived by the Christian Community of Val-Dieu.
The Val-Dieu Monastery (Latin: Abbatia Vallis Dei; Old Dutch: Goidsdaele; German: Abtei Gottesthal) is a monastery complex of a former Cistercian abbey located about 4 km west of the municipality of Aubel in the Belgian province of Liège.
In the 12th century, the first Cistercian monks came to what was then the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and founded the Hocht Abbey in Neerharen, not far from the city of Maastricht, as a daughter monastery of Eberbach Monastery.
The construction of the Val-Dieu Abbey was made possible in 1216 after a donation from the Duke of Limburg and Count of Daelhem by monks from Hocht Monastery. It was built on a site near Aubel, in the fertile valley of the Berwinne river. It thus belonged to the filiation of the primary abbey of Clairvaux.
The monastery prospered at first, but suffered a crisis towards the end of the 13th century. By 1625, the monks had to retreat to their refuge in Visé, 15 km away, because the abbey was set on fire by (Protestant) Dutch troops in 1575. It was secularized in 1796. The last abbot, Jakob Uls, acquired some of the buildings (including the abbey church) in 1805, which later passed to his heirs.
In 1840, the last conventual of the old abbey, Bernhard Klinkenberg from Aachen, managed to reacquire the buildings, after which Val-Dieu was repopulated by Cistercians from Bornem in 1844. Father Klinkenberg became abbot and re-founded the abbey. The abbey church was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style towards the end of the 19th century and consecrated in 1884. Some architectural elements from the 13th century have been preserved, such as the Romanesque mortuary gate, the sacristy and two chapels. The tower was only added in 1934. Between 1996 and 2000, the emeritus abbot of Hauterive, Bernhard Kaul, led the monastery as prior until he returned to Switzerland in 2000.
Until 2001, the monastery was inhabited by monks. Today, a Cistercian lay community lives and works here. Their main tasks are to cultivate prayer and inner-monastic life, to look after pilgrims and to hold retreats.
Since 1997, several abbey beers have been brewed in the in-house brewery, which are sold nationwide in retail stores and in the monastery shop next to the brewery.
The monastery served as a filming location for the crime series Wilsberg in the episodes In the Name of Rosi and God's Work and Satan's Coal.