Where would you find the Begijnhof?
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Published in Daily Trivia
In the Netherlands, the Begijnhof is an enclosed courtyard dating from the early fourteenth century. Hidden behind the frantic Spui shopping strip, it is an anachronistic oasis of tranquility, with tiny houses surrounding a pristine courtyard. The Begijnhof was formerly a convent inhabited by the Beguines, a Catholic order of unmarried or widowed women from wealthy families who cared for the elderly and lived a religious life without taking monastic vows. The last true Beguines died in the 1970s. One of the houses at the Begijnhof dates from 1465, making it the oldest maintained wooden house in the country.
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