During the expansion of the university, which was officially opened in 1976, several large old buildings in the city were taken over by the RUL (now UM). With three of them inside and outside Ruud Mestrom has recorded this fact in a modern chronogram.
House in den Nieuwenhof.
Before 1500 devout beguines moved their convent outside the city walls to the Zwingelput. The apse of the chapel dates from 1489, the nave from 1661.
In the 19th and 20th centuries the buildings were used as an Almshouse for orphans and guardians. Renovated by the Rijksuniversiteit Limburg in 1982 and used by the Faculty of Law.
A stone was then placed next to the entrance door with the text: nova curia pavperes tvita sedes stvdii ivridici facta vniversitatis traIeCtensIs aVgeatVr IVrIsqVe Vere perItos gIgnat = May the Nieuwenhof that has taken the poor under its wing, and which has now become the seat of the legal science of Maastricht University, gain honour and prestige and produce truly good legal experts.
Now the University College is located here.
Inside the former monastery of the Nieuwenhof, the coat of arms of Johannes Baptista de Grati and his wife Gertrudis Olieslagers has been placed. Both belonged to well-known Maastricht magistrate families. Johannes de Grati was a sworn councilor, paymaster, alderman, mayor and commissioner-instructor at Maastricht in the years 1629-1662.
In the yearbook of the Nieuwenhof chapel he is said to have done "a lot of work in building our monastery in 1652".
De Grati obviously supported the monastery financially. And as was usual, the benefactor's coat of arms was placed in the building.
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