Steyl (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈstɛil];Limburgish:Sjteil) is a village in theTegelen district of the municipality ofVenlo, theNetherlands. The village on the riverMeuse is mainly known for itsmonasteries. In 2004, a section of the village including four monasteries was made a conservation area under protection of the Dutch heritage agencyRijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (beschermd dorpsgezicht Steyl orkloosterdorp Steyl).
Steyl is situated on the right bank of the riverMeuse in the northern part of the province ofLimburg. It is located close to the border withGermany. A ferry connects Steyl withBaarlo. Steyl is divided into two areas:
In the past, Steyl often had to deal with floods when the river Meuse burst its banks. Major floods occurred in 1993 and 1995, when much of Old Steyl was flooded.
In the lateMiddle Ages andmodern times, Steyl was a port on the Meuse for unloadingmarl,wine,coal and other items for theDuchy of Julich. This brought wealth to local merchants, especially in the 18th century.[citation needed] Some merchants, such as the Moubis family, built mansions from the revenues earned by their trade (the Moubis estate). The port activities on the Meuse are now gone. All that remains is a small ferry service and the old ferry house, which is now a pub and restaurant. The Moubis mansion was sold in 1876 to a monastic community of German nuns fromMünster, who then significantly expanded it (St. Joseph's Monastery). The Moubis wine warehouse was sold around the same time to another religious order of nuns fromEssen (St. Gregory's Monastery). Thus, the merchant village of Steyl gave way to a village of monasteries.
From the late 19th century, the village attracted religious institutions from five Roman Catholiccongregations – each of which built their own monastery. Three of them were founded by the German priest FatherArnold Janssen. He emigrated to the Netherlands in the 1870s because theCatholic Church was put under great pressure in the newly foundedGerman Empire of ChancellorOtto von Bismarck (see:Kulturkampf). Janssen founded in Steyl theSociety of the Divine Word (Latin:Societas Verbi Divini, SVD), a worldwide catholic missionary congregation. Today the congregation is active in more than 70 countries. The monastic family founded by Janssen in Steyl includes two congregations for women, one for missionary sisters (Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, SSpS, or "Blue Sisters") and one contemplative order (Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, SSpSAP, or "Pink Sisters"). Two other congregations of sisters have left Steyl, one in the late 19th, the other in the late 20th century. Father Arnold Janssen was canonized on October 5, 2003, in Rome byPope John Paul II.
The village was arectory until early last century. Not until 1933 was Steyl elevated to the status of an independent parish by Bishop Lemmens of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Roermond. In order to make room for the expansion of the monasteries, the parish church was rebuilt further east. Today it is no longer in use as such but houses a militia museum.
The 3 monasteries founded by Arnold Janssen are still active today, all 3 functioning asmotherhouses for their respective religious orders. The oldest is St. Michael's Monastery (Missiehuis St. Michaël), a large brick building begun in 1880. The tall twin towers of thedouble chapel can be seen from afar. The lower chapel contains the sarcophagus of Saint Arnold Janssen and is open to visitors. Two buildings formerly used by the Missionaries of Steyl, St. Gregory's Monastery and the print shops, both across the road from the main building, now house a range of museums.
The Sacred Heart Monastery is the motherhouse of the "Blue Nuns", a large brick building built in 1902–04, surrounded by gardens. The double chapel can be visited on request. The Holy Ghost Monastery was built in 1914 as the motherhouse of the "Pink Nuns". The chapel of thesecloistered nuns is used forperpetual adoration of theBlessed Sacrament. It is off-bound to visitors but can be observed from an annex chapel, separated by a grid from the main chapel.
The former Monastery of Saint Joseph was partly housed in an 18th-century merchant's mansion,Villa Moubis. The Sisters of Divine Providence abandoned the monastery in 1994. It is now a residential area not open to visitors.
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The monasteries in Steyl are surrounded by large gardens which are partly used as vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, including several greenhouses. Other parts of the gardens function as recreational parks with flower beds, lawns, woodlands, ponds,gazebos and park benches. In addition, all monastery gardens feature a wide range of Roman Catholicdevotional elements such asLourdes grottoes, Biblical-themed grottoes,Stations of the Cross,Calvary groups,Sacred Heart statues (5!), and various Marian shrines and statues of saints, including several portrait busts of Arnold Janssen. Each garden has its own cemetery. A large section of the gardens of St. Michael's Monastery (the section across the road from the main monastery building, south of Parkstraat) is open to the public. The gardens and cemetery of the Sacred Heart Monastery can be visited only after obtaining permission. The Holy Ghost Monastery gardens are closed to the public.[1]
A major visitor attraction in Steyl is thebotanical gardenJochumhof, named after the SVD biology teacher Father Peter Jochum. It was formerly used for teaching future SVD missionaries about tropical plants. The garden is now run by volunteers.
TheMissiemuseum Steyl is the oldestmuseum in Venlo. From 1875 on, the SVD fathers travelled around the world and contributed to the collection. The arrangement of the collection within the museum has not been substantially changed since its inception in the early 20th century. Thetaxidermic collection includes local stuffedmammals, as well as animals from the polar regions and theSouth American jungles. A separate room is dedicated to painstakingly arranged collections of insects andarthropods. The ethnographic collection consists of artefacts fromIndonesia,Papua New Guinea,China,Japan, and many other countries where SVD missionaries worked. Included are the clothes worn by two missionaries when they were killed by spear thrusts during theBoxer Rebellion (1899–1901) in China. Blood stains and holes remain visible on the clothes.
TheLimburgs Schutterijmuseum is also located in Steyl. This museum shows a collection of the clothes and accoutrements of Limburg'sSchutterij organisations (see:militia). The museum building, the former Sint-Gregorklooster, was struck by fire in 2008. Part of the collection was saved, but damage to the building was significant. The foundation that supports the museum continues to exhibit the collection in a former church elsewhere in the village.
Other museums include theWereldpaviljoen ("World Pavilion"), aimed at young visitors to make them familiar with cultural diversity, and the so-calledForgiveness Museum, a pop-up museum that is based in the former premises of the Schutterijmuseum.
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