Domain of Mary

In the Kaart district in Brasschaat, there’s a unique Domain of Mary situated next to the church. In 1919, the Mary grotto of Stabroek was transferred from Stabroek. In the Kaart district, there’s now a domain with a Lourdes grotto, a Way of the Cross, a Way of the Seven Sorrows, and a Saint Roch Chapel. A festival of rock modeling art.

Groundskeeper Antoon Van den Weyngaert had picked out an oblong lot covered with pine trees of around six  thousand square metres, to the north of the church for this purpose. On August 15, 1916 the grotto was consecrated. One year later, one decided to build a Way of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady near the grotto. Sculptor Jozef Lodewijk Jacobin designed the stations: consistently a bas-relief in a small concrete rock formation. In 1917, the construction of the secluded garden followed. Before the Lourdes grotto, a pulpit, a water source, and a pilgrim’s roof were set-up, all constructions in rustic concrete.

That year, the religious park was further expanded with a Way of the Cross: fourteen stations sculpted by the Antwerp sculptor Jacques Coomans Senior, and placed into a concrete rock by Jacobin. In 1919, Jacobin created a fourteenth station for the Entombment of Christ which was built into a socket of the Saint Roch Chapel. In 1921, the Way of the Cross was consecrated.

In the second half of the 20th century, there were several restorations that took place. In 1962, it was the company Tondeleers that was responsible for the restoration. In 1987, the concrete constructions of the stations were restored and partly rebuilt.  The polychrome painting of the reliefs of the Way of the Cross also dates back to that phase of the restoration. At the beginning and at the end of the Way of the Seven Sorrows, a statue of Saint-Joseph and a pietà were placed, respectively.

Mariadomein

Neuw dedication of the Mariadomein

Inventory of Marian Caves