As well as going upstairs and downstairs inside the abbey, Alison led Mr Monkey outside. Here Mr Monkey scurried around an orchard and a small vineyard, and examined the ruins of a cellar. The abbey has been ruined several times since it was founded in the seventh century. Some Normans looted it in 880, it went bankrupt in the middle ages, got smashed up by Calvinists in 1566, and was rebuilt in time to be abolished by the French and be bought by the City of Ghent who needed a barracks. Mr Monkey wondered why they'd never repaired the cellars.
Return to Mr Monkey at the Kunsthal St-Pietersabdij, September 15th
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 6 November 2006