Beguines were single women who lived together as a Catholic community in a ‘beguinage’. The beguines took no religious vows but had to live by the rules of the beguinage for as long as they lived there. The three main rules were obedience to their superiors, chastity and austerity. In contrast to nuns, beguines had to earn their own living.
The Great St Elizabeth Beguinage was built between 1873 and 1874 in an astounding feat of construction: in less than two years, 18 contractors and 600 workers built a total of 80 houses, 14 convents, a meeting hall, an infirmary, a chapel and a church.