The Beguinage is the last surviving facility of this type in the city. The Beguinage housed the Beguinage, members of the secular Christian order active in the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries in Northern Europe. Members of these communities lived as nuns, but without taking vows, they were free to leave at any time. Beguinage was founded in 1244 AD by Margaret of Constantinople; The building complex includes a Gothic church and a row of whitewashed houses from the 16th to the 18th century, the buildings surrounding a central courtyard and surrounded by trees and lawns.