Their daughter Maria had a mausoleum built in the Michielsabdij in Antwerp. “There she was buried and the abbey was dismantled in the early 19th century. The funerary monument was divided in Europe and the remains also disappeared without a trace,” says Pastor Bart Paepen. Her funerary monument, which took 10 years to build, received a place in the cathedral. It has been in the M Museum in Leuven since 2009, but now the statue can be admired again in the cathedral. “We are very happy to have been able to celebrate the return of the statue from the mausoleum of Isabella van Bourbon on 25 September, the anniversary of her death in 1465,” says Bart Paepen.
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