Address: Abdij van Park 7, 3001 Leuven
Co-ordinates: 50.86438, 4.71745
Distance from central Brussels: 28 km
Open: 10-5 every day except Monday, open until 9pm on the last Thursday of the month
Parking: on site
How to get there by public transport: Buses 4, 5 and 6 from Leuven station stop at the end of the drive.
How good is it? One of the three best, along with Modave and the Brouwershuis in Gent. A must-see.
Dates of my visits: 3 July 2021; 29 December 2021; 18 June 2022

Park Abbey near Leuven, where I first encountered Hansche’s work, has probably the most spectacular collection of his ceilings. There is more at Modave, but it’s not quite as daring; and the Brouwershuis ceiling in Gent at least as audacious, but not as extensive as the Park ceilings. For most Belgians and visitors to Belgium, Park Abbey is also the most accessible of any of Hansche’s work, apart from the small portico of the Sablon church in Brussels.

It’s also probably (and not coincidentally) the most studied of any of Hansche’s ceilings, with the recent (and glorious) restoration having prompted a flurry of scholarly articles to add to what was already there. The former abbey hosts a religious art museum, Parcum, with a permanent exhibition and a rotating set of temporary displays, so there’s a solid base of expertise to build on.

Hansche actually carried out two assignments at Park Abbey. In 1672 he decorated the ceiling of the library with scenes from the life of St Norbert, the patron saint of the abbey. This was a new subject for Hansche and he brought his vivid imagination to the subject. The panels also include the four evangelists and the four Fathers of the Church, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory and Jerome.

At the ends of the room are two landscape scenes, one of which is the vision of the crucifixion to Norbert and his followers at Premontré which inspired the founding of the Premonstratensia order:

Marc Van Vaeck thinks that the chap on the left, whose garb is a bit out of place with the others, could be a self-portrait of Hansche himself.

But the crowning glory of Hansche’s work in the Park Abbey, possibly of all of his surviving work, is the ceiling of the refectory, which he did seven years later, in 1679. This is a set of scenes from the bible all involving food, culminating with the magnificent Last Supper scene,

Here is the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well:

Here is Jesus with Mary and Martha:

Here he reveals himself at Emmaus:

Here Abraham entertain the angels, Sarah eavesdropping on the left:

Here’s Elijah and the widow (I think):

And most striking of all, here is the Last Supper, seen in a mirror on the refectory table, with apostles leaning out of the ceiling into our space:

The abbey also now hosts the PARCUM museum of religious art, which is usually worth a visit for its temporary exhibition; but the Hansche ceilings alone make it very much worth the journey.