When someone from the Tessenderlo region thinks of Scherpenheuvel, someone from the Tessenderlo region immediately thinks of Scherpenheuvel, but here, in Haspengouw, a stone's throw from the road from Sint-Truiden to Hasselt, this beautiful specimen is located, surrounded by some fascinating older farms and buildings and never far from the fruit trees and views in the region. There were some works in the "open" accessible basilica, but from December 1, 2022 the building will be accessible again.
Excerpt from the information board at the entrance of the basilica: In 1636, the wealthy widow Elisabeth van Outeren received a small terracotta statue of the Virgin Mary from a Friar Minor from Sint-Truiden. To protect the region against banditry and highway robbery, she places it in a tree chapel near her well "de Nachtegaal" on the spot where the Cortenbosch and the Cappuyntjesbos meet. Believers from far and wide come to worship the statue and miraculous healings take place. The Premonstratensians of Averbode Abbey further developed Kortenbos as a place of pilgrimage. In 1641 the first stone of the church is laid and on 1 May 1648 the consecration follows. Work continues and with the finishing of the spire in 1726, the building is completed. Most of the interior decoration dates from the period 1651-1655. The central piece "Saint Norbert with Our Lady" by Gaspar de Crayer dates from 1662. The construction and furnishing of this church in a triumphant baroque style is entirely part of the Counter-Reformation. Everything that questioned the Reformation is emphatically present here".