Beguinage of Hasselt, Medieval religious complex in Hasselt, Belgium

The Beguinage of Hasselt consists of a V-shaped row of thirteen brick houses with stone corner quoins and steep tiled roofs, built between 1707 and 1780 around a 60-are garden. The north wing on Witte Nonnenstraat has eight houses from 1707–1711 in Mosan Renaissance style; the south wing on Badderijstraat has five houses from 1717–1762. A round-arched gateway with a pediment and oculus (1780) leads from Zuivelmarkt into the courtyard, where the ivy-covered ruin of the 1753–54 church remains.

A beguinage was first recorded in 1245 outside Hasselt's walls; it was destroyed during the 1567 iconoclasm. In 1571 the beguines moved inside the city, and between 1707 and 1780 the present V-shaped complex was built on the left bank of the Nieuwe Demer. The last beguine, Rosa Margaretha Vandenhoudt, died on 14 September 1886.

The beguines here taught children of wealthy citizens and nursed the sick; after the 1625 Battle of Fleurus they cared for plague victims, and six beguines died. The last beguine of the Zuivelmarkt court, Rosa Margaretha Vandenhoudt, died on 14 September 1886. The north wing's leftmost house carries the coat of arms of donor Anna Margaretha van Hilst above its door, with the date 1707 on the central mullion.

The beguinage lies between Witte Nonnenstraat, Badderijstraat and Zuivelmarkt, next to the Jenevermuseum and the Hasselt Limburg library. The garden courtyard with the ivy-covered church ruin is kept as public space; the thirteen houses and the gatehouse are not open to visitors. Z33 moved to Bonnefantenstraat 1 in 2020, so the exhibition wing at Zuivelmarkt 33 no longer houses it.

The church, consecrated to Saint Catherine and built in 1753–54, was already used as a hay barn by 1802, closed in 1881 and destroyed on 11 May 1944; the ivy-covered ruin carries a plaque with a short history of the beguinage.