The Mariënwaerdt Estate is a country estate of 900 hectares in the Betuwe area, part of the Province of Gelderland, and situated on the banks of the river Linge.
Mariënwaerdt is also known as the open-air museum of the Betuwe. It is a scenic agricultural area with spacious fields, orchards and forests. Alongside the famous Appeldijk (apple dike) ole apple trees blossom extensively in spring. Other dikes and lanes count hundreds of walnut trees that make many people come to Mariënwaerdt every year to pick walnuts in autumn. The estate has three country houses, seventeen farms – of wich fourteen are national monuments – and many other historical buildings.
The history of Mariënwaerdt goes back to 1129 when a Norbertian abbey was founded. The main buildings were constructed at the site where the current Main House of Mariënwaerdt is located.
The name Mariënwaerdt means island (waard) of Maria. The abbey was built on a elevated part of the land near the river and looked like an island as most of the year the surroundings fields were flooded.
The abbey was destroyed and rebuilt several times because it was situated at a vulnerable place – at the border of four provinces: Utrecht, Holland, Gelre and Brabant – which saw many battles and much devastation.
In 1567 the abbey era cane to an end. The estate remained for sale over one hundred and fifty years, until O.W.A. Count of Bijlandt, the ancestor of the current owners, the Van Verschuer family, bought it in 1734 and built the House Mariënwaerdt on the arches of the abbey. The cellars with the crossbows of the old abbey are still present in the House Mariënwaerdt.
