Château de Montjardin: A Fortified Castle in Belgium
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Belgium
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Belgian, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page11 sections
History
Château de Montjardin is a former fortified castle in Belgium, above the Amblève at Remouchamps in the municipality of Aywaille. Its stated construction date is 1327, when it was built on the orders of John the Blind, also known as John of Luxembourg, king of Bohemia and count of Luxembourg. The castle developed from an earlier defensive presence and was repeatedly altered from the medieval period through the twentieth century.
Medieval origins
An earlier castle stood on the heights of Dieupart, between Remouchamps and Aywaille. A medieval watchtower was later established above the Amblève, although its date is uncertain and has been placed in either the twelfth or fourteenth century. Over the following centuries, the watchtower was enlarged and transformed into a castle. The stated foundation and construction of Château de Montjardin in 1327 belongs to this long process of fortification and expansion.
The site occupied a steep rocky position above the river valley. Its defensive value was connected to the difficult terrain and to routes along the Amblève. Before the nineteenth century, access was by foot or horseback because no road led directly to Montjardin. A route ran nearby from Liège to Spa, while goods were transported along the right bank of the Amblève from the Ourthe and Meuse. A crossing over the water stood at the foot of the castle.
Renaissance alterations and the seventeenth century
The castle was modified particularly during the sixteenth century, a period when Renaissance architecture revived classical forms and influenced existing buildings. Its fortified keep retained walls designed to withstand cannon fire. A seventeenth-century representation indicates that the complex had once possessed a drawbridge, probably as part of an earlier arrangement. By the end of the seventeenth century, the drawbridge had disappeared, although traces in the west facade suggest that it stood toward the upstream side rather than on the south.
In 1640, the castle was destroyed by fire. Albert de Ligne subsequently transferred it to Sébastien Daems, who restored the building in the form it retained until the nineteenth century. A drawing by Isabelle van der Vreken, an artist and draughtsperson who recorded buildings and landscapes, depicts the estate during the period when the cathedral canon Barthélémy de Theux owned it. The drawing attributes the arrangement of the park to him and shows formal French-style gardens below the farm wall.
The de Theux estate
Louis de Villegas inherited Montjardin in 1730 at the age of nineteen. Substantial annuities and a mortgage left him unable to meet his financial obligations. The estate was auctioned to Marie-Claire Gallo in 1733, but she failed to pay. In 1734, it was awarded to Jacques de Theux for 31,300 florins. The de Theux family has managed the estate since that purchase.
In the nineteenth century, the landscape and its historical associations were recorded in drawings and descriptions. A painting by the Dutch landscape artist Allaert van Everdingen, made during the same period as another historical representation, has proportions and details regarded as credible because they correspond to later views. Count Henri de Merode-Westerloo described Montjardin as standing on a steep rock halfway up a wooded mountain above the Amblève valley. He also described promenades following the river’s curve toward a small temple overlooking the valley and the village of Aywaille.
The nineteenth-century castle
In 1868, Xavier de Theux, a younger member of the family, inherited the estate and built a second, monumental castle directly beside the older one. He planned the new building for his family of fifteen children, installed his library there, and provided accommodation for servants both in the castle and in the estate hamlet of Hénumont. This second building gave the estate a distinctly nineteenth-century architectural phase beside the older fortified complex.
War damage and later management
During the night of 4 to 5 March 1927, the round tower containing the well used to raise water from the Amblève during a siege collapsed into the river. Part of the building fell with it. Guy de Theux rebuilt the damaged section while respecting the Renaissance character of that wing.
The Second World War brought serious damage to both castles. A railway bridge about 100 metres away was blown up on 10 May 1940 by the Belgian army and again in August 1944 by Belgian resistance fighters attacking occupying forces. In autumn 1944, the newer castle housed an American military hospital and a detachment of the T-Forces, Allied units assigned to seize and secure strategically important technical, industrial, and scientific resources.
The explosions damaged window frames, roofs, stone barbacans, chimneys, and other upper structures. The old castle’s cannon-resistant keep walls survived, but the newer building was more vulnerable. Parts of its north facade became detached and unstable, and the affected wing was dismantled in 1980 to prevent accidents. The south wing, which contained service buildings, was restored in 1971.
The property now belongs to the Fondation Jean l’Aveugle–Château de Montjardin and is managed by the de Theux de Meylandt and Montjardin family. Since 2016, management of the estate has emphasized historical heritage, biodiversity, local involvement, sustainable development, renewable energy, and responsible tourism. The Domaine de Montjardin has received the Wildlife Estates label, which recognizes land managed with stated attention to wildlife, biodiversity, and sustainable land use.
Remains
Château de Montjardin occupies a steep rocky site above the Amblève. The complex is associated with the river valley, wooded and rocky slopes, the entrance to the Remouchamps cave, and the villages of Sougné and Aywaille. Its surviving fabric combines the remains of the older fortified castle, the service buildings of the nineteenth-century extension, walls enclosing cultivated areas, and traces of earlier water and garden arrangements.
Medieval and Renaissance castle
Fortifications and water supply
The first castle at Dieupart survives in several sections of wall. Above the Amblève, the medieval watchtower stood approximately 160 feet above the river before being progressively expanded and altered into a larger castle. The older Montjardin complex included a keep, the principal fortified tower of a castle, whose walls were built to withstand cannon fire. These robust walls survived the wartime explosions that damaged the later building.
A round tower contained a well designed to raise water from the Amblève during a siege. Its collapse in 1927 carried part of the castle into the river. The damaged section was rebuilt by Guy de Theux in a manner that respected the Renaissance style of the wing. Historical evidence also points to a former drawbridge on the upstream side, with traces of its arrangement remaining in the west facade.
Gardens and river crossing
Walls enclosed vines and gardens on the estate. The park also included formal French-style gardens beneath the farm wall and three arches built to create a level terrace or surface. At the foot of the castle, a water passage formed part of the earlier arrangement, and a boat shown in a historical representation is consistent with that crossing. Another representation includes supposed latrines projecting toward the valley, but these are considered probably imaginary.
The estate’s promenades followed the curve of the Amblève and led to a small temple overlooking the valley and Aywaille. These landscape features belonged to the designed setting around the castle and are also reflected in historical descriptions and representations of Montjardin.
Nineteenth-century buildings
The second castle, built beside the older one in 1868, was a monumental nineteenth-century building planned for Xavier de Theux’s large household. It contained family accommodation and a library, while servants were housed there and in Hénumont. The building suffered extensive wartime damage. Flying debris struck its roof, barbacans, chimneys, window frames, and other cut-stone upper structures, while sections of the north facade became dangerously unstable.
The damaged wing was dismantled in 1980. The south wing, containing the service or dependency buildings, survived and was restored in 1971. Its remaining structures form the principal surviving physical element of the newer castle beside the older fortified buildings.
