Maastricht University Tour

The current administrative building of Maastricht University, located at Minderbroedersberg 4–6, has a long and layered history dating back to 1699.

The building was built by the minderbroeders, or Franciscan monks following the tradition of Saint Francis of Assisi, to serve as their church.  They strove to live humbly and abstinently, which is clearly reflected in the rigid Classicist façade.  It features the all-seeing eye, symbolising God’s watchfulness, and a triangle with stripes depicting the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

During the French period (1794-1814), the monks had to leave the monastery. From 1806 to 1975, the main building served as prison. In 1825, the former Minderbroeders Church and the Minderbroeders Monastery were put into use as the Provincial Court. Both the Court of First Instance and the Criminal Court were housed here. The Marechaussee was also accommodated within the complex, in the place where the church’s apse and presbytery had been.

In 1860, the judicial functions were further expanded when the Cantonal Court moved from the Town Hall on the Markt to Minderbroedersberg. Six years later, in 1866, the building was struck by a major fire, which led to an extensive renovation. Another large-scale refurbishment followed in the 1920s. Eventually, in 1949, the Cantonal Court relocated to Vrijthof 19 / Papenstraat 4a.

The Minderbroeders complex also played a role in the early history of detention in Maastricht. In 1774, Maastricht’s first house of correction was established at Wolfstraat/Bredestraat. In addition, male prisoners were housed in monastic cells, both in the Cellenbroeders Monastery and at Minderbroedersberg. The women’s prison was located in another property, namely Minderbroedersberg 8.

One of the most notorious prisoners held at Minderbroedersberg was Johann Nathan. As punishment for the brutal murder of his mother-in-law, he became, in 1860, the last person in the Netherlands to be sentenced to death in peacetime by a civil court. Nathan was hanged on 31 October in the Markt in Maastricht.

In 1925, the Minderbroeders complex even acquired an official prison, which remained there until it moved to the Beatrixhaven in 1975. The building did, however, retain its function as a courthouse, which continued to expand. Due to increasing pressure on space, a ‘temporary’ building for the Public Prosecution Service was erected behind the main building in 1974; which remained in use until 1994. After that, continuous renovation work took place, and at one point portacabins in the inner courtyard were used as offices for the new administrative law division. In short, the court outgrew its premises. The eventual relocation to Annadal was therefore experienced as a relief.

In 1999, the university began using the Minderbroedersberg, or MBB, as its administrative building. It primarily houses the Executive Board, as well as administrative, communications, and governance departments. Doctoral defences, inaugural lectures, and other lectures are also held here. Staff often refer to this workplace as “the Berg.”

Although this former women’s prison now appears to be located on Patersbaan, its original address was Minderbroedersberg. It was built on the site of the second Franciscan friary. In 1806, the monastery was converted into the United Prisons (Prisons Réunis), so called because it brought together in a single building the penal institutions serving both the Department of the Lower Meuse (Nedermaas) and the city of Maastricht.

The building known as “the women’s prison” stands on the site of what was originally the monastery brewery.

The friars’ brewhouse stood somewhat apart from the main building, against the perimeter wall in the far south-western corner of the grounds, close to the well. It was demolished in 1804 and replaced by an infirmary or sick ward. Epidemics posed a deadly threat and spread unchecked through the populations of barracks and institutions, which is why sick prisoners were isolated to prevent them from infecting the rest of the inmates.

In order to separate the sexes, the infirmary soon took on the function of a women’s prison. The women spent their days on the ground floor, where two larger rooms, or wards, were situated on either side of the front entrance. On the first floor they slept in a dormitory. There was also a small private room for the female prison warder.

There was accommodation for little more than 12 to 18 women, but this was not a problem, as it was only rarely that all places were occupied during those years.

The female prisoners were moved several times. When the cellular system was introduced in the 1850s, requiring prisoners to be housed in individual cells rather than dormitories, the women were transferred to the monastery building, where this arrangement had already largely been established for the men from the outset. The Franciscans themselves had always occupied small individual cells. 

However, the women’s section on the first floor of the northern cloister could not be effectively separated from the rest of the prison, and this regularly gave rise to undesirable situations. This was due in no small part to the fact that for many years there was no female prison officer. A woman was not appointed to the post again until 1863, following an attempted rape in 1862 by a prison officer/night watchman. (He proved remarkably inept: the completely naked woman escaped into the corridor and locked him in her cell using his own keys. He was subsequently judged “unsuitable” and dismissed from his position.)

In 1915, the women were provided with a separate building erected in the prison courtyard against the western wall of the church. The original infirmary/women’s prison, possibly after the addition of an extra storey, was then used as a men’s wing. Whether and when the women later returned to the building is unknown.

In terms of its construction history, the building known as “the women’s prison” therefore dates from the years 1804–1806, although a second floor was added at a later date.

The Tongersestraat is a street in the centre of Maastricht. From the late Middle Ages until the French Revolution, the street was one of the most prominent in the city. The roughly 350-metre-long street boasts 54 national heritage sites, including the house formerly belonging to the garrison’s commandant (the Commandant’s house) at number 6. Currently, Maastricht University’s Finance department is housed here, but there is a whole history behind it...

The building dates from the seventeenth century, but some of its elements go back to the medieval period, such as the massive walls that in fact divide the structure into three buildings. It was built in the Mosan Renaissance style, which is clearly reflected in the façade, marked as it is by the colourful effect of the three building materials characteristic of this style: reddish brown bricks, yellowish chalkstone and the greyish blue limestone.

In 1725, the city council merged four existing houses on the Tongersestraat to form the Commandant’s house. The Commandant held the highest military position (after the governor of the garrison) in the fortified city. A plaque at the building’s entrance commemorates this. A carriage gate was added on the right-hand side of the property, so that the residents and their visitors could enter the home dry with their carriage and horse under shelter. When entering via this large gate, the original pavements can still be seen on both sides.

In 1772 the Commandant’s House was remodelled: the windows were lowered to add more symmetry to the façade’s look. Between 1796 and 1811, when this region was part of the French Empire, the building housed a criminal court. As of 1811 it served as a regional courthouse, first of the Lower Meuse Department, and, later on, of the Province of Limburg. 

In 1829, the court moved to the former Second Minderbroeders Church, and the residence was put to use as an individual home. As from 1956, it belonged to Kredietbank Nederland, until UM purchased the property in 1986. 

In 2011, the university renovated the property. In the renovation, all sorts of modern, sustainable technology was added, resulting in Tongersestraat 6 being the most sustainable building at UM for years. For example, the herring in water in the plaster of the walls actually heat the building. Woe to anyone who dares to hammer a nail into the wall!

But UM also respects the history of the building. For instance, in the beautifully planted garden, a plinth with a cast-iron cannon ball can be seen. The cannon ball landed in the garden during a siege in 1793, but it did not explode. The cannon ball was removed from the property for many years, but returned to the garden as a gift in 2019. In addition, the safes belonging to the previous owner, Kredietbank Nederland, can still be found in the basement. They are currently used by the Finance department to store paper archive material for the university.

The Bonnefantenklooster (Bonnefanten Abbey), also known as the Sepulchrijnenklooster (Sepulchrine Abbey), is a former abbey complex in the centre of Maastricht. It is located at Bonnefantenstraat 2, where the current Student Service Centre (SSC) of Maastricht University is situated.  

The building has a rich history. From 1626 to 1796, it served as an abbey for the Sepulchrine Canonesses. The sisters taught girls from the higher social classes, both Catholic and Protestant, and were therefore called the ‘Soeurs des Bons Enfants’, which then colloquially became termed ‘Bonnefanten’. It was, however, not always calm in the building. Fire broke out three times; twice suspected to have been ignited by a sister with Protestant sympathies, who later fled to the Northern Netherlands. 

After 1796, the Bonnefantenklooster functioned as barracks, 32 homes for working families were established within its walls and it was used as an art studio by Charles Eyck and Daan Wildschut. The building was restored between 1947 and 1950. From 1952 onwards, it housed the Limburg Provincial Museum of Art and Antiquities, now called the Bonnefanten Museum. 

At a later date, the chapel was also restored. It was then that a crypt was discovered beneath it, containing 54 alcoves dating from 1712 to 1794, in which the sisters of the Bonnefantenklooster were entombed.  

Maastricht University took over the building in 1987. Initially the former convent housed the University library, whose collections grew so rapidly that it had to move again to Grote Looiersstraat. 

As of 2004 the building is used as Student Services Centre and various other student-related activities. The most recent renovation sought to preserve the recognizability of the spatial structure of the former convent, its inner courtyard and chapel featuring as basic elements.

At Tongersestraat 53, the building that now houses the School of Business and Economics, is a former Jesuit monastery. The history of the monastery building, however, dates back to 1852, when after an absence of two centuries the Jesuits returned to Maastricht to found a theological faculty, the Canisianum. The exterior of the current building mainly dates from 1939, when a major remodelling of the Jesuit monastery took place. 

The building will always evoke memories of the pioneering stage of State University Limburg, now called Maastricht University. In 1974, the first fifty students of the country’s 8th Faculty of Medicine began taking classes here, even two years before the university officially opened its doors on 9 January 1976. The chapel served as its auditorium for quite some time.

As of 1985, the building houses the Faculty of Business and Economics, now the School of Business and Economics. The well-known local architect Jo Coenen has added a lecture hall with 500 seats and a large student dining hall, while he also moved the main entrance to the basement. In 2002 the building was again remodeled: the colors of the interior were changed and more lecture halls were added.

In the building, there are three remarkable stained-glass windows that refer to the Jesuit monastery and carry a piece of Maastricht’s history. At the heart of these windows stand the Jesuits, who formed an important Catholic order in 17th-century Maastricht.

The central stained-glass window was created in 1938 by Maastricht artist Henri Jonas. It was a gift from the people of Maastricht to the Jesuits and depicts The Betrayal of 1638, when a Franciscan monk attempted to return Maastricht to the Catholic Spaniards. During that period, the Jesuits faced great hardship. They fiercely opposed the Reformation, a major religious movement across Europe in which people turned away from the Catholic church to establish Protestant congregations. Because the Jesuits refused to acknowledge Protestant rulers and declined to swear an oath of allegiance to the Protestant States General, they were viewed as allies of Spain and suspected of treason. Alongside the Franciscans, the Jesuits were expelled from Maastricht.

The two outer windows, created by artist Hebert Levigne between 1944 and 1945, were a gift from the Red Cross to the Jesuits. They commemorate the crucial role of the Red Cross shortly after the capitulation in May 1940. In consultation with the German occupiers, the Red Cross established a hospital in this building for wounded prisoners of war. At one point, more than 600 injured soldiers, among them Belgians, Moroccans, and Algerians, were treated here by Dutch, Belgian, and French doctors.

Together, these windows tell a story of loyalty and humanity. They can be found in the central hall, located on the street side at what was once the main entrance.

This story begins in nature reserve De Kommen (known as De Koompe in the Maastricht dialect). Until 1867, De Kommen was part of the inundation zone in the Lage Fronten, the low-lying outer defences of the fortified city of Maastricht along the Jeker river. In times of siege, this area could be deliberately flooded. In 1864, the area was repurposed as a training ground for the cavalry, which was then stationed at the nearby Bonnefantenklooster, now home to our Student Services Centre (SSC). Despite protests, a military barracks was built in De Kommen. It was named after military engineer Sebastiaan Tapijn, who died in 1579 during the Siege of Maastricht.

After the Second World War, the Tapijnkazerne became a military training centre. By 1956, around 700 soldiers were stationed there. Later, NATO took over the site, primarily using it for the liaison units of AFCENT (Allied Forces Central Europe). From 1967 to 2007, Tapijn served as a support site for AFCENT’s staff and communications units. The last NATO personnel left in October 2010.

One feature that still recalls Tapijn’s military past is a staircase on the edge of the former barracks grounds. This staircase leads to a now-closed tunnel that once provided a strategic passage under the public road, directly connecting to a sports complex on the opposite side. At the time, this sport complex was heavily used by the soldiers stationed at Tapijn. Today, however, the tunnel is no longer accessible; it has flooded and is now submerged.

Since March 2020, Maastricht University has been making use of the former barracks buildings. Tapijn has since transformed into a vibrant area with a unique mix of functions. It is now an open park featuring a petting zoo, an organic urban garden, a café, and modern educational and research facilities. The site is constantly evolving.

In spring, students and residents of Maastricht come together at Tapijn to stroll, study, relax, or play games. The atmosphere is relaxed, creative, and open – a stark contrast to the area’s military past. The message embedded in the pavement at Tapijn, Make Love Not War, an artwork by Martijn Sandberg, perfectly captures the spirit of a place that has been transformed from a closed military zone into a green, inclusive space for all.

Ever since 1982, Maastricht University is housed in a building originally known as the Nieuwenhof convent, located at Zwingelput 4. After an extensive renovation, the building was initially used by the Faculty of Law. In 1998, the Faculty of Law relocated to the old government building on Bouillonstraat, after which University College Maastricht (UCM), part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, moved into the premises.

Just like other UM buildings, the Nieuwenhof convent boasts a rich history. Originally, it was a beguinage. Later, it became a convent, then an orphanage, and today it serves as the home of UCM. 

The Nieuwenhof was initially located outside the city’s fortifications, but it had to be demolished in 1465 due to an anticipated attack by the people of Liège. It was subsequently rebuilt in a safer location, north of the second city wall.

The first city wall was constructed in the second quarter of the 13th century, but after just a few decades, it already turned out to be too small. As a result, from around 1294, it was decided to include the suburbs that had developed along the main roads within a new city enclosure. This new city enclosure, known as the Nieuwenhof Wall, was completed in the year 1500.

The Nieuwenhof building is beautiful, but its chapel is even more striking. This baroque space, featuring gothic arched windows, stained glass, and distinctive lecture furniture, is truly unique. The furniture is oriented towards the organ loft rather than the altar, preserving the spaciousness of the chapel. The art in the chapel includes works by Piet Dirkx, while the convent building itself houses pieces by artists such as Guus van Eck.

The word ‘eerbied’, reverence, is on the floor of the chapel. Reverence implies deep respect, infused with love, dedication, or awe. This applies, for example, to the master builder, the Mother Superior, and the priest of the past. A parallel can be drawn with today’s teachers, who, with dedication and love, shape the future of our students.

The Jeker river once streamed through Grote Looiersstraat, as depicted by the shape of the gable above the door to the Maastricht University Library offices and ICTS hub. The gable follows the curvature of the Jeker river and states that this building was once an almshouse.

The almshouse was built majestically and handsomely thanks to a bequeathed donation from the well-to-do canon Maximilianus Henricus Salden. However, this building has not served its original purpose for a very long time. As far back as 1793, it was promoted to serve as barracks due to the threatening war. The French victors subsequently turned it into a military hospital, the ‘Hôpital Militaire de la Concorde’. After the French era ended in 1814, the building – expanded with two wings at the backside – continued to be used as a military hospital until 1917, while it also became a military barracks again.

During the Second World War, the occupiers seized the building. Shortly after liberation, the property was temporarily set up as ‘De Grote Looier’ camp, where over 1,000 political prisoners were held. Until the late 1960s it was subsequently used for various military purposes again.

After the war, the building was returned in a deplorable state. In 1975, the Municipality of Maastricht bought the building. After a major renovation, the Municipality decided to house the public city library and municipal archives here. Many a school pupil walked across its carpets, looking for reading material for their reading list or simply as a bookworm.

In 1974, the University of Maastricht started teaching – two years before the university was officially founded. During these two years, teaching was mainly concentrated in the former Jesuit cloisters at Tongersestraat 53, where a modest library was also located. In 1979, the University Library was housed in the former Bonnefanten Abbey, currently home to the Student Services Centre (SSC). Finally, in 2003, the library moved to the newly purchased and thoroughly renovated property at Grote Looiersstraat 17.

A decade later, the University Library at Grote Looiersstraat comprised over 657,040 books (spread over 18 kilometres of shelves), 19,051 e-books, 546 physical journal subscriptions and 29,472 digital journals. What once began as an almshouse is now a bustling space where knowledge and education join forces for everyone.

That coming together of knowledge and education inspired the Czech artist Bořek Šípek, who designed the entrance gate to the University Library. The gate was aptly named “Passage to Wisdom.”

When closed, the gate forms a striking contrast between the historic buildings. When opened, the central section tilts forward, causing the black bars and colourful glass elements to extend out over the street. These elements consist of flower buds, leaves, fantasy figures, and flowers. All are hand-blown glass pieces in a variety of colours.

The current building at Kapoenstraat 2 is constructed on the cellars of an older property dating back to the late Middle Ages. In 1882, coffee roaster J. Hustinx commissioned the renovation of the front section, including the façade, in an eclectic style – an architectural blend of various design elements. The other parts of the building were already in existence at that time.

In 1987, the property was added to Maastricht University’s portfolio of buildings. It underwent extensive refurbishment, including the distinctive Spiegelzaal (Mirror Room). (A second Mirror Room within the university, which may be even more beautiful, can be found at Grote Gracht 80–82.) In 2008, the building underwent another renovation. The courtyard was given a wavy glass roof, creating a bright and open meeting space. Today, this area serves as a learning space for the Faculty of Law, which also occupies the adjacent building on Bouillonstraat.

Just around the corner from Kapoenstraat 2 is Lenculenstraat 14. The rear sides of these buildings face the same inner courtyard. The building on Lenculenstraat 14 is now home to UM’s teaching facilities and the editorial offices of the independent university newspaper Observant, but from 1850 to 1919 it was a brewery. The cellar of the building was put to intensive use. The large room most likely housed the brewing equipment, while the other spaces served for storage and bottling: possibly not just beer, but also other drinks such as wine.

The brewery remained in the hands of the Hustinx family for a long time. Renier Hustinx was the owner in the first half of the 19th century. His parents had owned a brewery on the Moesmarkt. After his death in 1857, his widow, Maria Theresia Becker, continued the business. She was later assisted by their son, Gerard Hustinx.

After Gerard’s death, his widow, Maria Hollman, handed the brewery over to their son, Leon Hustinx, in 1904. In 1918 Leon also founded a company for the sale of tobacco, but he passed away later that same year. From May 1919, the Phoenix Brewery from Amersfoort set up its main agency in the building. This marked the end of the Hustinx brewery.

In the early 1980s, Maastricht University purchased the building. Over the years it has served various purposes. In the 1990s, MEMIC (the centre for data and information management at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences) was located here, later followed by Observant, which today once again has its offices on the first floor. The then Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) was also based here until it relocated to the Paul Henri Spaaklaan in 2019. The ground floor was used for a long time by the Faculty of Law (LAW) as a teaching facility. Since the university acquired the building, the cellar has had no further function.

The building on Bouillonstraat was once owned by the Municipality of Maastricht. In 1859, the Municipality sold it to the central government for 44,500 Dutch guilders (about €20,193).

Under the ownership of the central government, the building on Bouillonstraat became the provincial government building of Limburg. Between 1929 and 1935, it was demolished and replaced by a new build. Since then, the provincial government has moved to a location along the Maas river. Its former building is now home to UM’s Faculty of Law.

At 46.5 metres above the Bouillonstraat, the UM flag waves proudly on the tower. The architect, G.C. Bremer, drew his inspiration for the design of the tower from Italy. That is why the tower resembles that of the Palazzo Pubblico in Sienna. 

When the building still housed the provincial government, the provincial offices were located to the right of the tower. To the left of the tower was the official/governor’s residence, including guest rooms. The governor’s actual home was located in the garden wing, behind the wing on the left-hand side, and it also included rooms for the royal family. High-ranking guests could wave to the public from the balcony above the archway on Bouillonstraat.

The governor’s home was occupied by Baron van Hövell from Wezeveld and Westerflier, followed by his successors Dr Frans Houben (father to the Maastricht mayor Philip Houben) and Dr Charles van Rooy (father to Minister Yvonne van Rooy). The later governors remained in their private homes.

The home included majestic reception rooms: a hall and parlour, including a small mezzanine for a small orchestra. As from 1986, when the University of Maastricht bought the building, these rooms were mainly used for special guests, celebrations and University Council meetings. Nowadays, the hall hosts a practice court of law and the parlour has been turned into a staff lounge area.

The building at Grote Gracht 76 dates from 1928 and was originally a school, built in an expressionist style. The Jeanne d’Arc Lyceum provided Catholic schooling for girls. From 1970 onwards, boys were welcomed too. Many a Maastricht resident enjoyed their schooling here and, seeing as the school stood right in the city centre, the pupils will certainly have had dozens of stories to tell about the cafés on the Vrijthof square, which were well visited by pupils playing truant on Friday afternoons (who would dare?!).

On 11 September 1944, during the Second World War and before the liberation of Maastricht on 13 and 14 September 1944, the Netherlands Red Cross set up a medical post/maternity ward in the cellar of the Jeanne d’Arc Lyceum. Under the skilled leadership of the famous Maastricht GP, Dr Leith, 17 young Maastricht residents were born here. Eighteen years later, one of them even obtained their secondary school diploma in the arts (HBS-A) at the Jeanne d’Arc Lyceum.

Since then, Grote Gracht 76 has become one of the buildings of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS). In the cellar, which now functions as a bike cellar, we can find an old acquaintance from one of the previous stories in the “Hidden Gems” series, namely the artist Charles Vos. When Maastricht University acquired the building, it found a wooden casing in the cellar concealing a relief by Charles Vos behind it. The university has since replaced the casing with plexiglass, so that Vos’ relief can be seen. The relief reminds us of the period when the cellar was set up as a maternity ward.

The building at Grote Gracht 82 – now used by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences – was originally a canon’s house.

The house was built in the eighteenth century as a city palace for the brothers André and Guillaume Soiron, both canons of the Chapter of Saint Servatius. The design was created by their brother, the city architect Matthias Soiron. The canons must have had considerable financial means, as the façade, interior and detailing unquestionably exude wealth.

At that time, wealthy residents often travelled by carriage. The design of the palace therefore included a carriage gate. Carriages could enter directly from the street via a cobbled driveway. At the end of the driveway there was a subtle raised section. By positioning the wheels strategically on this section, the carriage would sit slightly higher, allowing the residents to get in and out easily. Do take a look next time you pass by, as both the driveway and the raised section are still visible.

After getting out of the carriage, the residents could proceed directly to their living quarters on the left of the gate. To the right were the service rooms and the staircase, the latter of which remains intact. Opposite the gate was once a yard containing stables, the carriage house and most likely a courtyard garden. Today, this site is occupied by an extension built by Maastricht University.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the property at Grote Gracht 82 changed ownership several times. The university purchased the building in 1999. During the renovation that followed, the original design was preserved as much as possible. Since 2004, the former canon’s house has been home to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

At Grote Gracht 90-92 in Maastricht’s Statenkwartier lies Tilly’s courtyard, or the ‘Hof van Tilly’, built in 1714 as urban residence of military governor Claude ’t Serclaes, Count of Tilly. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has been housed here since 2003.

The Hof van Tilly was built in the style of a French hotel. The horse-drawn carriages could enter the inner courtyard through the stately gate. The courtyard’s wall, to the right behind the gate, comes with a marlstone relief depicting Amphitrite’s abduction by Poseidon. In this corner there also used to be a fountain with a drinking water reservoir for horses. Over the centuries, the building has served various other purposes. In 1834/1835 it was renovated to house a public primary school, which in 1880 was accredited as a state teachers college. At that time, many new structures were added, such as two new wings and a gymnastics hall, which at the time was a very modern facility indeed.

The building’s striking Turnzaal is the oldest gym hall in the Netherlands. It dates all the way back to 1880. Back then, the Hof van Tilly was a teacher training school with a hyper-modern gym.

Before the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences took over the building, it was thoroughly renovated and refurbished. The Turnzaal became a multifunctional space. It was attempted to maintain the authentic character, visible in the craftsmanship comprising chalet-style elements. This was managed by choosing transparent acoustic materials, for instance.

For a long time, the Turnzaal was used as Maastricht University orchestra’s rehearsal room. Today, it is mainly used as a lecture hall. 

The trusses on the ceiling of the hall are bedecked with a work of art by Tom Claassen. This artwork references the Venus of Willendorf, one of the first manifestations of artistic expression that stems from around 24,000 BCE. Because the art was installed in the gym, Claassen decided to depict the plump figures in gym poses.