The MERICI HOTEL is ideally located in the heart of Sittard. Wherever you want to go, you don’t have to travel long. Have you explored historic Sittard and would you like to go shopping? Then Maastricht, Roermond or Aachen are definitely worth a visit.

Would you like to enjoy the Dutch, German or Belgian surroundings while walking or cycling? Do you prefer a day of skiing at Snowworld Landgraaf or do you want to immerse yourself in the thermal baths of Thermae 2000 Valkenburg or Carolus Thermen in Aachen? MERICI HOTEL shows you the way to Burgundian relaxation.

The secret gardens of sittard
Take a wonderful city walk through the centuries-old and cozy city center of Sittard. The secret city gardens of Sittard tell a wonderful story. Our hotel itself is located on five of the 27 city gardens in Sittard. A wonderful way to spend a morning or afternoon in Sittard.

The gardens adjacent to Merici Hotel are : the Ursulin garden, the Cour Solanus, the Jardin d’Isabelle and the city wall of Sittard.

Ursuline garden
The city garden was made in 1993 in the former gardens of the Ursuline monastery and boarding house. The base is the garden of the Ursuline sisters, who settled in the Huis op de Berg on the Oude Markt in 1843 and had their garden outside the wall. The gardens are located in the city’s former battle fields. In the city garden, in addition to the Ursuline burial site still present, there is also a monument to the murdered Jews from Sittard and the adjacent region. The garden also consists of a part of the city canal, some rose beds, a pear avenue and a playground. Since the restoration of the ‘monastery quarter’, including the former Ursuline monastery and boarding house, the old passage through the wall has been restored.

Cour Solanus
On the church path, which runs right past the Paterskerk, is a garden next to a building where various monastic communities have found a place. Dominicans, Jesuits and Franciscans have left their mark during the past hundreds of years. A hundred years ago, the garden served as a playground, hence the name ‘cour’ and is named after Franciscus Solanus, a saint from the Franciscan tradition.

Jardin d’Isabelle
Opposite the Cour Solanus is a garden with an unfortunate love story. Charles Beltjens, son of a family of merchants, saw no future for himself in the trade during the mid-19th century, but followed his poetic heart. In the garden of Doctor de Borman he found his muse, his daughter Isabelle. However, the doctor found him completely unsuitable and forbade his love. Charles went to Paris, where he rose to fame, hung out with Victor Hugo and Nobel laureate Sully Prud’homme, and was even admitted as a member of the renowned Académie Lamartine. When he later returned to Sittard, he was regarded there as an eccentric and went through life as a ‘Rinaldo Rinaldini’ for the youth. Immediately after his death, he was, as so often, regarded as a genius and a statue was erected in his favor.However, it only came after a hundred years and is located in the Jardin d’Isabelle. It is named ‘Le Condor Captif’ (the captive Condor) and depicts his impossible love …

City wall Sittard
The city wall of Sittard is many centuries old. In the rampart there is almost certainly still a large part of the old city walls that were probably built shortly before or around 1300. The walls were later ‘grounded’ to ‘smother’ the cannonballs in the sand. The rampart is often ‘covered’ and sung by Thur Laudy for example, Jo Erens and Toon Hermans.

The rampart has traditionally been planted with lindens, the oldest of which are about 200 years old. It has long served as a walking path for couples in love, among others. From the shore there is regularly a beautiful view of the old battle fields with the centuries-old allotment gardens. Special and, sometimes, rare plants  can be observed in the walls of the rampart.

Maria park
In 1867, a miracle took place in Sittard, attributed to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which saved the life of a pensioner (student) of the Ursulines. The result was the emergence of a place of pilgrimage and an explosion of devotion that has never been matched in the Netherlands. By 1890, several million people were members of the arch brotherhood that came with it. Opposite the pilgrimage church (which had become the Netherlands’ first basilica a few years before) for the great influx of pilgrims, a cloister with courtyard (pandhof) was built. In the Mariapark, as it was called, pilgrims could attend celebrations. Because of the large windows, which are made entirely of stained glass, it was in fact a large garden.