Vêves Castle

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Vêves Castle, north-east view

The Castle Vêves ( French Château de Vêves ) , also lock Celles called, is one of the examples bemerkenswertesten the castle - and castle architecture in Wallonia . It stands on a tributary of the Lesse a few kilometers from the district of Celles in the Belgian municipality of Houyet , in the province of Namur .

history

According to tradition, the origins of the complex go back to Pippin the Middle , who is said to have chosen this strategically favorable location on the hill above the Dinant-Rochefort road as a fortification because of its proximity to the hermitage of St. Hadelin in Celles .

Evidently since the 12th century the fiefdom of Celles-Vêves and the castle at that time belonged to the lords of Beaufort . Wauthier von Beaufort († 1196) became lord of Celles by marrying Ode von Bretagne. After it was destroyed around 1200, the Lords of Beaufort had a new castle built around 1230.

In 1466, the lord of the castle, Ludwig von Beaufort, took part in the siege of Dinant when the city was destroyed by the mighty and last Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold . At the beginning of the 15th century, Vêves Castle burned down almost completely, but was subsequently restored.

Illustration of the castle from the first quarter of the 19th century

Countess Marie-Robertine von Beaufort, heir to the title of Baroness von Celles, married Jacques-Ignace von Gavre, the Count von Liedekerke , in 1761 . Her son Hilarion von Gavre was the first count of Liedekerke de Beaufort. This family has owned the facility ever since. Hilarion von Gavre was marshal at the Dutch court and married Julie, daughter of Viscount Desandrouin, treasurer of the Austrian Netherlands . Her son Auguste (1789–1855), the Netherlands' ambassador for the Papal States, married Charlotte (1792–1822), daughter of the Marquise de la Tour du Pin-Gouvernet, in 1813. Augustes and Charlotte's son, Hadelin von Gavre, was very involved in Belgian politics and was the last heir to live at the castle. In order to secure its future, he founded a non-profit-making basis ( French Association sans but lucratif ), a legal form of the nonprofit association.

The next heirs, Count Aymar (1846–1909) and his son Count Hadelin (1887–1974) no longer lived at the castle, but they were concerned about the maintenance of the property. The association was headed by Count Christian de Liederkerke Beaufort (1927-1992). With government support, he had extensive restoration work carried out on the palace between 1969 and 1979 . Since 1986 his son (* 1955) has taken care of its management and the maintenance of the castle, which is open to visitors as a museum.

Brief description

Southeast view of the castle

The basic shape of the facility resembles an irregular triangle, surrounded by four large and two smaller towers. Its shape is given by the area of ​​the rock on which it was built. It was completely rebuilt during the Renaissance . In the time of Louis XV. The owners had further changes made, especially to the interior, wood paneling , alcoves and exterior windows. Two half-timbered galleries , one above the other , have been preserved on the courtyard side . They combine the original, medieval living area with a grand piano from the 16th century. The individual rooms of the castle are furnished with furniture from the 18th century belonging to Countess Athénaïs de Mortemart.

literature

  • Jacqueline Depierreux (Ed.): Schlösser an der Maas. Tourist Association of the Province of Liège u. a., Liège 2006.
  • Luc-Francis Genicot: Le grand livre des châteaux de Belgique. Volume 1: Châteaux forts et châteaux fermes. Vokaer, Brussels 1975.
  • Marie-Caroline d'Ursel: Fifty castles bring the history of Belgium to life. Information service, 1972.

Web links

Commons : Château de Vêves  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Josef Els: Early Romanesque on the Maas. In: Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz (Hrsg.): Rheinische Heimatpflege. Vol. 53, No. 2, 2016, ISSN  0342-1805 , p. 127.
  2. ^ History of the facility on the castle website , accessed on May 22, 2016.
  3. ^ Josef Els: Early Romanesque on the Maas. In: Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz (Hrsg.): Rheinische Heimatpflege . Vol. 53, No. 2, 2016, ISSN  0342-1805 , p. 128.
  4. ^ Werner Meyer : Study trip to palaces and castles in Belgium. In: Castles and Palaces . Jg. 16, No. 1, 1975, ISSN  0007-6201 , pp. 50-57, here p. 51.

Coordinates: 50 ° 13 '14.9 "  N , 4 ° 58' 57.4"  E