Castle of the Princes de Mérode

Locals call it "Oud Kasteel" (Old Castle) to discern it from the new castle built for Jeanne de Merode in 1910-12 (see below). The castle has been the home of the House of Merode for more than five centuries. The central keep or Donjon has walls of more than 2 m thick. I was built by the lords of Wesemael in local brown stone in the late 14th-century. It probably replaced an older fortress on the same spot. Other parts of the building are believed to date from the 15th and 16th century. The castle was adapted, extended and renovated several times. From the 16th century onwards it was transformed into a more luxurious noble dwelling and gradually lost its fortified character. Several restorations in the 19th century gave it back a more 'romantic' medieval appearance.

The sumptuous interiors contain fine furniture, paintings, tapestries, Cordoba leather wall hangings and objects collected by the Merode family throughout the centuries. The most important rooms like the entrance hall, the "ridderzaal" (knights hall), the large drawing room, the dining room and the chapel can be visited during the 'Kasteelfeesten' in the first weekend of July.

An English landscape park of 12 hectares surrounds the castle. The ponds in the park are connected with the moat of the castle. Across the Nete river there is a larger formal park (60 hectares) in the French tradition with a rectangular pond forming a large perspective. It was commissioned by Fieldmarshall Jean-Philippe-Eugène de Mérode-Westerloo at the beginning of the 18th century and was inspired by Versailles.