The royal orphanage of Buren - Buren

On the death of Anna van Buren on 24 March 1558, her daughter Maria van Nassau, inherited the title countess of Buren at the age of two. Because her father, William of Orange, was away from home a lot, he brought Maria and her brother Philip William, after the death of their mother, into the care of Mary of Hungary, the governess of the Netherlands at her court in Brussels. Here, the young countess of Buren received an upbringing and education befitting the daughter of a prominent nobleman.

In 1567 when the situation in the Netherlands became more tense because of the start of the Eighty Years' War, William of Orange, now married to his third wife Charlotte de Bourbon, took his daughter from Brussels to Dillenburg. Son Philip William left for Leuven to study.
On 7 February 1595, Maria, aged thirty-nine, married her childhood friend, army captain Count Philip of Hohenlohe, in Buren. They settled in Buren. The marriage remained childless.

After the death of her husband, in 1606, Maria founded an orphanage in Buren. She managed to get her hands on the land where a Franciscan convent had stood, which had meanwhile been destroyed by a major fire, and had this beautiful building constructed there. In 1613, the building was completed and the orphanage could be put into use. There was room for 24 orphans of devout Protestant descent. The orphans had to come from the old Egmont possessions: the counties of Buren and Leerdam, the barony of Acquoy and the seigniory of IJsselstein. Twelve girls and 12 boys. Besides an orphanage father and mother, the permanent staff consisted of a tailor, a seamstress and a gardener. They were assisted in their work by the admitted children.

After Maria's death on 10 October 1616, her half-brother Prince Maurits drew up regulations and the dark-clad orphans, were given an orange M on their left sleeve in memory of the foundress. Until 1953, the building remained an orphanage for Protestant children. It then housed guardian children until 1971 and was managed by youth welfare services.

On top of the entrance gate are three statues representing Maria van Buren's intention: faith, hope and love.