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Gaasbeek Castle

A Neo-Renaissance Fairy-Tale Castle

Originally erected in the 13th century, Gaasbeek Castle, in Lennik, was razed to the ground in 1388 by citizens from the nearby city of Brussels, in an attempt to express their annoyance with the Lord of Gaasbeek, who had had one of their aldermen assassinated. The castle was quickly rebuilt, and through inheritance, conquest & purchase, the estate changed hands several times. Its most illustrious owner was Count Lamoraal van Egmont, who, together with Count Filips van Montmorency, earned a place in the history books for being executed in 1568, marking the start of the Dutch Revolt against Spain. From the early 17th century onwards, the castle underwent renovation, but in 1695, during the Nine Years’ War, French troops destroyed an entire wing, which — it must be said — improved the view from the courtyard tremendously.

In 1796 the castle fell to the Arconati family, whose last scion died in 1876. Marquis Giammartino Arconati Visconte was outlived by his wife Marie Peyrat, a petty-bourgeois Parisienne whom he had married just over two years before and who went on to inherit one of the largest Italian fortunes of the time. In 1887, the dowager Marquise commissioned architect Charle-Albert to transform Gaasbeek Castle into a neo-Renaissance fairy-tale castle — not just the building, but its furnishings as well. When the reconstruction was finished, in 1898, the castle looked more Renaissance-like than it ever had before, and Marie would spend her autumns here, often dressed up as a medieval page, and entertain guests. Her marriage had remained childless, and therefore there were no heirs. She donated the castle to the Belgian state, and in 1924 it was opened to the public.

Reader comments

Isabel

This year it’s a century ago that Gaasbeek Castle opened as a museum. It’s also the year that the castle fully reopened after a thorough renovation that took three years to complete. Thanks to the elaborate reconstruction of the original 19th-century murals, wallpaper & panelling, and the restoration of the tapestries, the castle once again shines in its original splendour.

Margriet

The oldest depiction of Gaasbeek Castle dates from early in the 17th century: an etching from the book Bruxella cum suo comitatu (1606). One hundred years later, a set of engravings published under the title Délices de la noblesse (1706) contained an etching by Jacob Harrewijn that shows what the castle looked like towards the end of the 17th century.

Paulien

In the 19th and 20th centuries, until around World War II, Belgium enjoyed a leading position in the international field of horticulture, and fruit farming in particular. Gaasbeek’s museum garden takes visitors right back to those glory days. The garden’s focal point is its unique collection of espaliered fruit trees.