Het Nonneke

There was a convent in Lieshout until 1985, when it made way for the Zorgboog care complex Franciscushof. A rich history preceded the presence of the sisters in Lieshout. This is summarised in the statue 'Het Nonneke' which is placed in the old convent garden. The Lieshout artist Rieky Wijsbek made a bronze statue of a strong nun, sunk in prayer. A different statue than the then mayor Van Hout had in mind. He would have liked a sculpture of a seated nun with a child on her lap. The nuns have meant a lot to our village. Young girls mostly who rolled up their sleeves in the prime of their lives. They were no softies,' the artist, who died in 2008, said in an interview in 1998. In 1886 the Sisters of Charity of Schijndel took up residence in Lieshout, in the doctor's house near the church. In 1899 a new convent was built, to which the municipality contributed 4,000 guilders at the time. In return, the sisters took care of the sick and the poor and provided education. In 1934, this building had to make way and a new convent was built, named Franciscushof. In 1980, the last nuns left and the building eventually made way for the care complex of the same name. On the occasion of Franciscushof's fifth anniversary in 1990, Monsignor Ter Schure unveiled the statue. On the pedestal it says: 'With love, wisdom and much praise'.