"Why be a princess...

... if you can be a canoness at St. Sainte-Waudru Collegiate Church in Mons Belgium?"



That's what some aristocratic ladies must have thought in the middle ages, when they saw the choir-dress of the 'Chanoinesses'.


A Lady Waudru settled down on a hill which later would become Mons. The small community gave birth to a chapter of canonesses. The beautiful church was erected over the course of almost 200 years, from 1449 to 1621. But the original plan was never altered during the process, which is why you have such a homogeneous building. The church was the personal church to the community of the canonesses until the end of the Ancien Regime.



Of course the canonesses of Waudru don't exist anymore. Their habit, however, lives on: The dresses you see here are new and were worn during a historical pageant in honor of St. Waudru.