Jozef De Veuster, better known as Father Damien, was born in 1840 in Tremelo in the district of Flemish Brabant. From 1873 until his death in 1889, he cared for the leper colony founded on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. The birthplace of this missionary and ‘Apostle of the Lepers’ is currently undergoing restoration.
© Hilde Kennes (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Tremendous news in Tremelo. On 2 September, restoration work began on the birthplace of the town's most acclaimed and world famous resident: Father Damien. The house forms part of the Damien Museum. Together with the Flemish government's Flanders Heritage Agency, a thorough renovation has been planned. This means that the roof and utilities will be renewed, the façade restored, the inner and outer timber work renovated and the historic stove repaired.
After the restoration, the first floor will be furnished as a workplace and meeting room for museum staff. The ground floor will accommodate a new permanent exhibition, and the front room will evoke Father Damien's youth with authentic furniture and other interior elements that once belonged to the De Veuster family. Here, you will learn more about Father Damien's life and work as a missionary in Hawaii and his encounters with the Hawaiian people and their culture. There is also the upper room, where the missionary was born. And the chapel with its stained glass windows where his original coffin stands.
The Damien House will reopen on 25 May 2025.
