Castle of Hollogne: Seat of the Lordship of Grâce-Courtejoye
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Belgium
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page10 sections
History
Castle of Hollogne is a historic estate in Belgium and was the seat of the lordship of Grâce-Courtejoye in the valley of Grâce-Berleur. Developed through the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, it is associated with Mosan Renaissance architecture, the architectural tradition of the Meuse region around Liège, and with the history of the former Prince-Bishopric of Liège.
Medieval lordship
Under the ancien régime, the territory was divided between Grâce-Saint-Martin and Grâce-Courtejoye. Grâce-Saint-Martin was an allod, meaning property held outright, belonging to the chapter of Saint Martin’s Collegiate Church in Liège. Grâce-Courtejoye was a high lordship held as a fief, or land and jurisdiction governed through a feudal relationship, from the feudal court of Trognée.
By the end of the thirteenth century, the estate belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of Kornelimünster. Its avouerie, the delegated protective authority exercised over an ecclesiastical institution or its possessions, was held as a fief of the feudal court of Hesbaye. The knight John of Luxembourg, descended from the counts of Luxembourg, held this office in the thirteenth century. His son Roger succeeded him and acquired the lordship from the abbot of Kornelimünster through an act dated 4 November 1323.
The Luxembourg and later owners
The Luxembourg family, more commonly associated with Hollogne, retained the lordship until the death of Gérard de Hollogne in 1664. The estate then passed to his daughter, Marie-Gertrude de Hollogne, and her husband, Baron Borchard-Guillaume de Kinsky, a personal councillor to the King of Prussia.
Ownership changed repeatedly thereafter. Marie-Elisabeth de Royer acquired the castle in 1677. By 1729, Barbe de Noville held it and re-established the lordship with Kornelimünster. In 1757, Jacques-Nicolas-Joseph de Coune, a Liège échevin and lord of Deigné, acquired the estate. The de Coune family kept it until the French Revolution, despite opposition from the Kinsky family between 1782 and 1792.
From the nineteenth century to the present use
The de Coune family still owned the Hollogne-aux-Pierres estate in the nineteenth century, when the castle was sold to Pierre Mottard. Ownership later passed to the Lhonneux family, who held it by 1912. Alice Van Zuylen, Baron Lhonneux’s daughter, inherited the castle and bequeathed it in 1957 for the benefit of disadvantaged children.
Since that bequest, the nonprofit Stations de Plein Air Liégeoises has used the estate for a children’s holiday program and as a recreational center. In November 1963, Alice’s brother, Baron Fréderic Van Zuylen, transferred the castle archives to the State Archives in Liège. The estate’s later charitable use and its archives form part of the modern history of the property.
Remains
The surviving estate combines a castle with a farm arranged around a courtyard. The principal buildings are chiefly in brick with limestone details, surrounds, and horizontal bands. The castle’s front faces the park, while its rear faces the farm courtyard, and the castle is attached to the northeastern wing of the farm.
Castle building
The main castle building contains two stories and has a nine-bay façade flanked by two engaged cylindrical towers. Its pavilion roof includes sloping dormers. The towers are capped by eight-sided pepper-pot roofs with coyaux, projecting pieces at the eaves. Smaller towers stand to the northeast and northwest of the castle building, while a square tower rising six stories interrupts one of the façades.
Courtyard farm
Principal farm building
The castle farm is organized around a courtyard. Its long principal building brings together a residential section, stables, and a barn. The farm buildings use brick with limestone surrounds and stand on a base made from sandstone and limestone blocks.
Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wings
The farm buildings date mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and underwent several alterations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The southwestern wing is a seventeenth-century stable and barn complex. The rear wing dates from the eighteenth century, while the southern wing is a granary with entrances for carriages. The eastern wing is contemporary in date but incorporates surviving eighteenth-century elements.
Carved heraldic stone
Near the low wall of the former moat, in front of the farm residence, lies a semi-cylindrical stone carved across its entire surface with the arms of Érard de la Marck, a prince-bishop of Liège and member of the prominent de la Marck family.
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