Nos événements

Amid woods and heathland, east of Koersel in the municipality of Beringen, the little sanctuary of 't Fonteintje, the Koersels Kapelleke, has welcomed pilgrims for almost two centuries.

Tradition tells that in 1826 a man lost on the heath, dying of thirst, called upon the Virgin Mary; a spring then welled up, and its water gave him back his life. In gratitude he raised a statue of Mary, soon venerated as Our Lady of 't Fonteintje, and so the pilgrimage was born.

A chapel arose soon afterwards: its oldest part, the choir, dates from 1833, and the building was enlarged in 1939 to the plans of Karel Gessler. Inside, small stained-glass windows, an eighteenth-century painting of the Trinity, and delicate wooden figures make up a quiet, recollected setting. All around, a modest procession park and a fountain laid out around 1900 still allow open-air masses, in the heart of a vast nature reserve.