Prinsenkasteel: A Ruined Water Castle in Grimbergen, Belgium
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Belgium
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Belgian, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire, Spanish
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page10 sections
History
Prinsenkasteel is a ruined water castle in Grimbergen, Belgium, developed by the medieval lords of Grimbergen from an earlier Berthout stronghold. The present castle was erected around 1500 on the foundations of the earlier fortress and was enlarged in the early seventeenth century before further changes from the mid-eighteenth century to about 1900.
Medieval origins and destruction
The Berthout family lost its wooden stronghold at Borgtberg during the Grimbergen Wars of 1141–1159, a conflict that shaped the family’s position in the region. The lords of Grimbergen may then have moved to the site of Prinsenkasteel, possibly after a land exchange with the Norbertine abbey recorded in 1217. By the beginning of the fourteenth century, the site, then known as Boksem, served as their residence.
In 1488, Brussels rebels opposing Maximilian I, the Habsburg regent of the Burgundian Netherlands, besieged and destroyed the Berthout fortress. Albert III, Duke of Saxony, retook it in 1489. Although a chronicle describes its destruction, Albert apparently did not demolish the fortress completely. The castle built around 1500 therefore incorporated the foundations of this earlier stronghold.
Princely domain and later alterations
In 1686, Charles II of Spain raised Philippe-François de Glymes, Count of Grimbergen, to princely rank. The estate consequently became a princely domain, an estate associated with a prince or princely title, and acquired the name Prinsenkasteel.
The castle suffered damage during the War of the Austrian Succession and was restored in 1745. It was embellished during the 1770s and continued to be modified until about 1900. In the later eighteenth century, the estate passed to the House of Merode, a Belgian noble family, through the marriage of Charles de Mérode and Marie d’Ongnies de Mastaing, Princess of Grimbergen, in 1778. Their eldest son, Henri de Mérode, became the first member of the family to bear the title Prince of Grimbergen.
Religious refuge and wartime destruction
From September 1901 to 1933, about 25 French Premonstratensian sisters lived in the castle. The Premonstratensians, also called Norbertines, are members of a Catholic religious order founded by Norbert of Xanten. The sisters had been expelled from their abbey at Bonlieu-sur-Roubion during the French expulsion of religious congregations. The castle had stood unoccupied for many years, and the sisters made it habitable before eventually returning to France. Architect Pierre Langerock directed restoration work there in 1907.
During the Second World War, German forces occupied Prinsenkasteel and used it as a munitions depot. In September 1944, German soldiers set the castle on fire during their retreat to prevent advancing Allied forces from capturing the ammunition. Fire and explosions destroyed much of the building, although the donjon, the principal fortified keep of a medieval castle, at the southwest corner and a round corner tower at the northwest corner remained standing, linked by the western facade.
Municipal ownership and conservation
The municipality of Grimbergen acquired the castle ruins in 1947. The castle and surrounding park passed from the Merode family to the municipality by 1959, and the municipality acquired the annex building now called Guldendal in 1978. The ruins received protection as a historic monument in 1959, and protection was extended in 1980 to the entire estate as a rural site. Guldendal also received historic-monument status. Restoration began in the late 1990s, followed by further conservation planning, including funds allocated by Flanders in 2023 for work planned to begin in spring 2024 and an announcement in 2025 concerning restoration of the floor.
Since 1982, Guldendal has housed the Museum of Old Techniques. Management of Prinsenbos Park was assigned to the Agency for Nature and Forestry in 2009. The municipality owns the ruins, park, and Guldendal.
Remains
Prinsenkasteel stands in Prinsenbos, or Princes Wood, south of Grimbergen’s town center. The park lies between Prinsenstraat, Guldendal, De Merodestraat, Speelbroek, and Pastoor Woutersstraat. The site remains legible as a water castle, a castle partly protected by surrounding water defenses, with surviving medieval and later masonry arranged around the ruined main building.
Medieval fortress remains
Donjon
The donjon at the southwest corner is one of the major sections left standing after the 1944 fire and explosions. Much of its masonry belongs to the medieval fortress phase, and the donjon appears to date largely from around 1400–1420. Chisel marks in the masonry have been associated with a stoneworking technique of that period.
Northwest tower and western facade
A round corner tower at the northwest corner also survived the wartime destruction. It is connected to the donjon by the western facade, creating the principal surviving extent of the castle’s outer structure. The masonry of the second corner tower may likewise belong largely to the period around 1400–1420.
Water castle and Guldendal complex
The castle’s cellar contains pillars bearing coats of arms of the Bergen family, which descended from the Berthout family. These pillars form part of the surviving evidence for the castle’s earlier aristocratic associations. The ruins remain visible within the park.
Guldendal was formerly the castle annex and included the stables, carriage house, and service building. Together with an adjoining farm, the former stables and storage building form the Guldendal complex, a surviving group of ancillary structures associated with Prinsenkasteel.
