The Poor Clares and the Colettine Poor Clares (English)
The order of the Poor Clares was founded by Saint Clare and the Colettine Poor Clares are followers of the Flemish Saint Colette (1381-1447). This order settled in Tilburg in 1889 and moved into a convent that had been designed by Hubert de Beer and was located in the Lange Nieuwstraat. The nuns spent their lives praying and were completely cut off from the outside world. External contacts were only maintained by the outside sisters.
The final eight nuns left their Tilburg convent in 1989 and settled in Someren. The building was acquired by the Sprengk Foundation, which turned it into a spiritual center. In 2004 it was bought by TBV Wonen and in 2007 students from the Brabant Medical School moved into the renovated building, which is listed as a national monument.
Certain original elements of the interior, such as hand-pumps and a solid wooden door, have been preserved.