History - Kontakt der Kontinenten

1924

The mission congregation, the Society of the Divine Word (otherwise known as Missionaries of Steyl or Fathers SVD), buys the plot of Buitenplaats Hoog en Wel, with villa Eikenhorst on it, the current Cenakel.

1925

Start of secondary school and minor seminary. Start of the construction of Mission House Sint Jan, which will be taken into use in 1926.

1939

The congregation sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, also known as the Pink Sisters, use the newly built Cenakel as a monastery.

1954

The minor seminary shrinks as graduating students go to Deurne to complete their education.

1961

The minor seminary of the SVD Fathers is closed. The Fathers found the training and meeting centre Kontakt der Kontinenten (KdK). They bravuraly call it 'an anniversary gift to the Dutch people'....

1968

The management decides to rent out rooms and slowly the religious disappear in all kinds of positions and paid 'lay people' are hired. On 19 May, the top floor of Mission House Sint Jan burns down, after which the floor is completely renovated.

1971

The first trips organised by KdK go to East and West Berlin with doctors and scientists. Later trips, for various target groups, mainly go to North Africa and the Middle East. The first international conferences are organised with themes such as development cooperation, women's emancipation and human rights.

Vanaf 1975

Youth training is an important activity. School classes stay in KdK to orientate themselves, each other and the world.

Vanaf 1981

In the 1980s, many peace groups gathered here and protest marches against the arrival of nuclear weapons were organised by the IKV. With (then) a military airport right on our doorstep and peace activists in the house, it really gave the feeling of being a focal point in modern times.

Vanaf 1981

The first hotel rooms got their own sanitary facilities. Until then, guests shared toilets and showers. Although, one should not think too much of this: stalls were placed in the rooms. Many development workers have followed courses and training here, sometimes for several weeks on end. They worked from idealistic motives: the desire to build a better world.

1997

After the departure of the partners and the acquisition of the mission house, plans are made and realised for a kitchen with restaurant, terrace, bar and a semicircular wing with 34 hotel rooms at the rear of the building.

1999

The pink sisters, so-called because of their unusually coloured habit, lived in silence, seclusion and prayer in the Monastery Cenakel. The last sisters left for Utrecht in 1999. The ornately painted Cecilia Chapel is now used as a conference and event hall.

2001

People integrating were an important target group, but this decreased due to amended legislation. Finally, spiritual ministers from other countries were guests here: the integration course took place for priests, pastors, rabbis, imams and pandits who came to work in the Netherlands and had to find their way.

2011

Various renovations take place, whereby the layout and appearance of the buildings are thoroughly overhauled. Without aspiring to excessive luxury, the dated austerity that prevailed has been done away with.

2011

Corporate Social Responsibility has always been part of our business operations and is now taking shape – partly – in the form of the golden Green Key certificate. With our Water for Water project, for example, we serve water to our guests and we donate money to water projects in developing countries.

2020

In 2018, a multi-year renovation project kicks off in which a modern kitchen and a 'worldly' toilet group are realised. In 2020, the new KonneKt restaurant, lounge & bar, a casual meeting place in the heart of the hotel, is opened. This is where worldly influences and cultural similarities come together.

Our history

Mission House Sint Jan

Monastery Cenakel