1916-1950
Were we come from
In 1916, the Huize Bergen estate was built by order of the Fentener van Vlissingen-Roosenburg family under the architecture of the architect Johan Wilhelm Hanrath. A magnificent park of sixteen hectares around the villa was also laid out in the nineteenth century by a Belgian garden architect, whose name we have not been able to trace. The "bird island" in the garden's pond was formerly inhabited by flamingos and heavily visited by many species of birds, ducks and swans.
Residents Landgoed Huize Bergen
After the death of her mother, daughter Charlotte (1880) and her husband Willem van Beuningen (1873) moved into the residence in 1927. Their many good deeds in the municipality of Vught did not go unnoticed. Among other things, in the 1930s they had workers' housing built for the then poor Vught. These houses are now part of the Charlotte Elisabeth van Beuningen Foundation. The renovation of the beautiful town hall in Vught was also largely a gift from the family to the municipality. During the Second World War, Charlotte organized the distribution of food parcels for prisoners of Camp Vught.
Willem van Beuningen died in 1948, after which Charlotte decided to sell the estate. She wanted the estate to have a social function in which the less well-off could also find a place. The buyer was the diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch on 23 November 1949, which turned the estate into a training center.
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1950 -1999
The memory of Brabant
Landgoed Huize Bergen is a piece of the collective memory of Brabant. More than 1 million people have met here. In 1950 different from today, but always with the intention to leave richer.
In 1950, the Diocese of Den Bosch became the new owner of the Huize Bergen estate, who almost immediately sold it on to the leadership institute Maria Annunciation. Because of the growing demand for training and courses, space was needed. Permanent tenants were the maternity training and the life school. The institute focused mainly on the training of girls and young women to prepare them for their future roles as adults, but the youth camps of the Dutch Catholic Sports Federation were also a household word at Huize Bergen Estate.
The objective not only included the promotion and facilitation of educational work among young people, but also created space for the promotion of meetings and courses in the religious, charitable, social and cultural fields.
In the 60's there was a cooperation with the "Joannes Bosco Foundation", which already owned the "De Spreeuwel" (now "EIGENTIJDSERF") in Westelbeers. Slowly but surely more and more business found their way to the estate. In 1974 only 4 percent of the guests attended their own courses. The rest took courses from third parties who only rented the space and took care of themselves.
In 1979 'De oude Pauw' was sold for the realization of three new conference rooms and 25 double rooms, called 'de Goudfazant'. In 1994 this was further expanded with sixteen double rooms in a new accommodation called 'the Nightingale'. In 1996, the construction of a large congress hall with a foyer was started. This new building was named 'the Peacock'.
This was followed in 1999 by another sixteen double rooms in a new accommodation called 'the Swallow'.
100 stories
The complete history of Huize Bergen Estate can be read in the book 'Huize Bergen 100 stories'. The digital version of the book is available.
