Coloma Castle
| Coloma Castle | ||
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 Coloma Castle |
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| Creation time : | around 1515 | |
| Castle type : | Moated castle | |
| Conservation status: | Receive | |
| Place: |
Sint-Pieters-Leeuw , Belgium
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| Geographical location | 50 ° 46 '43.3 " N , 4 ° 14' 54.6" E | |
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The Coloma Castle ( Dutch Kasteel van Coloma ) is a castle complex in the Belgian municipality of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw in the province of Flemish Brabant .
history
It was built around 1515 by Leonard van Hecke, the son of a Brussels lay judge , and is referred to on the maps of the time as "Gut van Hecke" ( Goed van Hecke ). Joos van Hecke, the builder's son, sold the estate in 1611 to the Spanish nobleman Antonio de Arguello and his wife Teresa de Arce y Ponce. These in turn sold the property to George Uwens. In 1643 the castle passed to Karel Laurin, whose eldest daughter married Anna Ritter de Varick. Her son-in-law was Jean-Charles Roose, who was appointed first Baron of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw in 1690.
Since then, the castle has been the residence of the barons of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. The most famous resident of the estate was Charles Vital Alexandre Coloma (* 1718 in Mechelen , † 1758 in Brussels ), chamberlain to Empress Maria Theresa of Austria , after whom the castle is still named today. By marriage and inheritance, the castle first passed to the Counts van der Dilft and finally to the Counts of Limburg-Stirum .
The last baron of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Count Christian de Limburg-Stirum, no longer lived in the castle and therefore rented it out to private individuals. From 1974 the Belgian state rented the building complex. The community took care of the maintenance of the castle and the public was given free access. This collaboration was ended in 1980 by the Count. The castle remained unused in the years that followed and fell into disrepair. The municipality of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw therefore initiated an urgent procedure to purchase the castle and protect the cultural heritage. This procedure was only successfully completed in 1987. The park became the property of the Flemish Community , which established a rose garden there in 1995 . The castle passed to the municipality of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, which reopened the property on September 12, 1992 after 3 years of renovation and now makes it available to the population as a cultural center.
architecture
Originally the property was a castle for military purposes. It was not until the 18th century that the Roose family had the property converted into a representative castle in the classical style.
Today's Coloma Castle is a brick building with four corner towers and a shield roof. The family coat of arms is in the east gable . It is a moated castle that can be reached via a four-arched bridge. The sandstone portal is crowned by a triangular gable .
Originally two gateways and horse stables belonged to the castle, but these were demolished over the years. Only part of the former coach house in the Renaissance style of the 17th century has been preserved and is now used as a restaurant.
The previously existing French gardens have been replaced by an English park . Today's ponds, on the other hand, can already be seen on old pictures of the castle, which is why it can be assumed that they have been preserved in their original form.
