The Calvary Mount (Calvarieberg) was reportedly located on the highest part of the ‘Aaltense Es’ (a type of historical communal open field), near the present-day Berkenhove cemetery and the water tower. Historians suspect that in the Late Middle Ages, this spot formed the terminus of a Stations of the Cross featuring thirteen stone stations, which depicted the Passion of Christ.
A Calvary Mount, also known as a Mount of Calvary, is an artificial hill on which the crucifixion of Christ is depicted. The name refers to Golgotha (Calvaria = skull), the hill outside Jerusalem where, according to the Gospels, Jesus was crucified. Calvary Hills were common across large parts of Catholic Europe.
Stations of the Cross
The original arrangement of Aalten’s Stations of the Cross is not known with certainty. One theory is that a Stations of the Cross route ran from theOld St Helena Church, across the Aaltense Es to a Calvary Mount. Other arrangements have also been proposed. A reference to a Kruijsswech on the Aaltense Es in 1638 makes a route across the es plausible, but does not establish the precise position of the thirteen stations.
The final station is thought to have stood near the present-day water tower, at one of Aalten’s highest points, also situated on the oldroute between Bocholt and Zutphen.
“den Berch van Calvarien”
The Gelders Archives in Arnhem preserve a file from 1580–81 containing an inventory of the possessions of Nazareth (Schaer) monastery near Bredevoort. Prior Johan van Vueren was instructed by the Gelderland authorities to record the monastery’s lands. Nazareth’s property had been confiscated during Gelre’s transition to the Reformation, and its income was thereafter used to train orthodox Protestant ministers and schoolmasters. Van Vueren recorded the following about a plot on the Aalten Es, north of the village:
“Master Sander ter Woert with his brother-in-law have (…) a piece of land situated in the Aalten Esche near the Berch van Calvarien, measuring 11 and a half schepel of sown land.”
Procession Park
In 2023, plans emerged to create a procession park at the beginning of the Barloseweg, featuring replicas of the Aalten Stations of the Cross and Bible-related vegetation. For the maintenance of this park, a water tap was already installed, which has since been named the ‘Calvariebron’ (Calvary Spring).
