For centuries, the church at Herkenrode Abbey stood as one of Belgium’s most important religious landmarks. The Gothic structure formed the heart of a wealthy Cistercian abbey near Hasselt before war, fire, and demolition erased it from the landscape. Today, almost nothing of the original church survives.
Belgian architectural practice Gijs Van Vaerenbergh has now revived the vanished structure in a striking new form. Instead of rebuilding the abbey in stone, the studio created CLAUSURA, a monumental steel installation that outlines the former church in midair. The result feels both ancient and futuristic, like a cathedral drawn directly into the sky.
Architects Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh designed the project to mark the studio’s 20th anniversary. Thousands of slender steel tubes trace the church’s towers, walls, and vaulted forms at full scale. The structure remains completely transparent, allowing the surrounding ruins, trees, and shifting light to move through the work itself.
As visitors walk around the installation, the architecture constantly changes. From some angles, the lines align into a recognizable Gothic silhouette. From others, the structure almost disappears into the landscape. That tension between presence and illusion defines much of Gijs Van Vaerenbergh’s work, which often merges sculpture, architecture, and perception into one experience.
Rather than reconstructing the abbey exactly as it once stood, CLAUSURA focuses on memory and absence. The installation preserves the scale and spirit of the church without imitating its original materials. In doing so, the project transforms empty space into architecture.
The work also reflects a broader shift in contemporary sacred design. Many modern architects now explore transparency, atmosphere, and abstraction instead of relying solely on monumental stone structures. CLAUSURA embraces that approach while remaining deeply connected to the site’s history.
Alongside the installation, Gijs Van Vaerenbergh is celebrating its anniversary with a publication and exhibition titled Fictional Ruins. The project examines how architecture can preserve memory through incomplete forms, imagined structures, and spatial storytelling.
With CLAUSURA, the architects created more than a memorial to a lost abbey. They turned history into an immersive experience that feels suspended between ruin, sculpture, and mirage.
Built from thousands of slender steel tubes, CLAUSURA traces the exact footprint of Herkenrode Abbey’s lost 16th-century church.
From certain angles, the transparent installation aligns into a complete Gothic cathedral before dissolving back into the landscape.
Architects Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh created the monumental work to celebrate 20 years of experimental architectural design.
