Cortewalle Castle

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Manor house of Cortewalle Castle, view from the south

The Cortewalle Castle ( Dutch Kasteel Cortewalle ) is a palace complex in the center of the Flemish community Beveren in Belgium . Built in the 15th century by the Trieste family, the property passed through the Goubau family in the 18th century to the Counts of Brouchoven de Bergeyck, who lived in the moated castle until 1960. In 1966 they sold it to the municipality of Beveren, which today uses the main building as an event location. The castle also houses a local history museum and the de Brouchoven de Bergeyck family archive. The former coach house and orangery are now used as a restaurant.

The mansion of the plant has been employed since September 8, 1971 under monument protection .

history

The castle was built by the Trieste family in the early 15th century in the Flemish Renaissance style and is believed to be the birthplace of Ghent's Bishop Antonius Trieste . Initially it was called Hof ter Walle , which gradually changed to Cortewalle. In the 17th century the castle came to the Goubau family and from them by marriage in 1787 to the Counts of Brouchhoven de Bergeyck. Charles de Brouchoven de Bergeyck began in 1856 with a radical change and expansion of the facility. Among other things, the Renaissance cross- frame windows were removed and the castle portal was renewed in the neo-Gothic style. The interior also underwent extensive changes. The 18th century coach house was also changed and received a neoclassical extension in the form of an orangery. At the same time, an ice cellar and accommodation for the gardener and the groom were built in the castle park . Charles' only daughter Alix from his marriage to Emilie Moretus married her cousin Florimond de Brouchoven de Bergeyck in 1869 and brought him the property. Between 1908 and 1910, their son Charles rebuilt the buildings again, giving them their current appearance. He had three wings of the main building on the ground floor on the courtyard side enlarged, so that the inner courtyard of the palace was massively reduced. The interiors have also been extensively renovated and modernized.

After the death of Charles' widow Josephine Cornet d'Elzius de Peissant in 1960, the castle was no longer used. In 1961 the heirs had all the furniture in the house publicly auctioned. In 1966 they sold the complex, including the castle grounds and ancillary buildings, to the municipality of Beveren. This had the castle in the late 1980s and 2007-2008 restore and uses it ever since for exhibitions, concerts and other cultural events. Some of the restored rooms and the palace chapel can be visited on Sundays from May to September as part of free guided tours. A local history museum run by the Hertogelijke Heemkundige Kring Het Land van Beveren association is housed in the attic , the most valuable exhibit of which is a 9.5 x 6 meter tapestry from Aubusson . However, the small museum is only open on Sundays in September. In addition, since 2000 the castle has housed the Brouchoven de Bergeyck family archive, which was previously widely scattered . Today it is looked after and inventoried by community employees.

description

The small palace complex consists of a four-wing, water-enclosed manor house and a former coach house with orangery to the northeast of it. The buildings are located in the middle of a 10-  hectare , publicly accessible castle park. This can be reached from Remisen Island via a cast iron suspension bridge from around 1905. The park is designed as a landscape garden and is mostly planted with linden , summer oak and beech . There are also some exotic solitary trees, such as a Japanese cake tree , a common Judas tree and an American sweetgum tree . Access to the park is via a 350-meter-long beech avenue that runs towards the palace area from a south-westerly direction. It ends on a wrought-iron lattice gate, the gate pillars from Blaustein are decorated with lion heads and crowned by vases.

To the northeast of the manor there is an island on which not only is the former coach house with adjoining orangery, but also a large round bed. The single-storey coach house was built from brick on a plinth made from bluestone. It has a slate hipped roof and corner pilasters made of bluestone. The former round arched gates have now been redesigned as windows, but they still clearly illustrate the original purpose of the building. The three-axis central risalit is closed off by a triangular gable with a round skylight.

Entrance facade of the manor house

The walls of the manor house, made of light sandstone , rise directly from the house pond. Together with the closed quadrangular shape of the building, this clearly illustrates its formerly defensive function. The mansion consists of two parallel, two-storey tracts with stepped gables , which form the south-east and north-west wing. They are connected to each other by two lower connecting wings on the southwest and northeast sides. All tracts together thus surround a small, rectangular inner courtyard. The south wing is one of the oldest buildings in the complex and may date from 1416. An octagonal stair tower is in front of its outside in the middle . At the corners of this side you can find the beginnings of two tourelles on the upper floor . The main entrance is in the northeast wing. The ogival portal is flanked on both sides by narrow, octagonal turrets with pointed helmets . These are - like all the other roofs of the manor house - covered with slate shingles. Neo-Gothic pointed arch windows indicate the location of the palace chapel in the north-western wing of the palace.

The interior of the mansion dates from the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, including paneling , artistic carpentry and stucco decorations . In the vestibule there is marble flooring , the black and white slabs of which are laid in a checkered pattern. Next to the windows, a dome made of stained glass illuminates the entrance hall. The Verlatsaal ( Dutch Verlatzaal ) is by Charles Verlat named, whose paintings of hunting scenes on the walls of this hall hang. There is also a white marble fireplace in this room. The Blue Room ( Dutch: Blauwe Kamer ) also owes its name to a piece of furniture: its wall covering made of blue damask . The most striking part of the furnishings in the Flemish Room ( Dutch Vlaamse Kamer ) are the stained glass windows with coats of arms.

  • View of the mansion from the north

  • Beechall

  • Remise, now a restaurant

  • Game in the castle park

literature

  • Gabriël Willems: Het kasteel "Cortewalle" te Beveren . Heemkundige Kring Het Land van Beveren, Beveren 1984.
  • Gabriël and Richard Willems: De geschiedenis van het kasteel "Cortewalle" te Beveren. E & D, Bornem 2000, ISBN 9076934010 .
  • Richard Willems, Carine Goossens: Cortewalle. Lannoo, Tielt 2011, ISBN 978-90-209-9934-1 .

Web links

Commons : Cortewalle Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Decision on protection under protection as PDF file , accessed on January 15, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d Schloss Cortewalle on the website of Onroerend Erfgoed , accessed on January 15, 2020.
  3. ^ A b c Michiel Heirman, Linda Van Santvoort: Le guide de l'architecture en Belgique. Racine, Brussels 2000, ISBN 2-87386-236-X , p. 78.
  4. ↑ a b c d Marc Van de Vijver (Ed.): Cortewalle . Information flyer. Municipality of Beveren, Beveren 2008 ( PDF ; 7 MB).
  5. ↑ a b Information about the castle on the website of the municipality of Beveren , accessed on January 15, 2020.
  6. ↑ Information according to the geoportal for Flanders

Coordinates: 51 ° 12 ′ 49.6 "  N , 4 ° 15 ′ 53.9"  E