On the territory of the municipality of

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. The ...

(Westerloo, using the old spelling) there are several castles.

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 The House of Merode is one of the most prominent families of the Belgian nobility. The House of Merode originates from the village of Merode (today in the municipality of Langerwehe, Germany). Over the last five centuries different branches b ...

for more than five centuries. The central

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

Donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

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, Córdoba leather wall hangings and objects collected by the Merode family throughout the centuries. The most important rooms like the entrance hall, the "ridderzaal" (knight's 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 The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

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 The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

Castle of Countess Jeanne de Mérode

Locals call it "Nieuw Kasteel" (New Castle) (). It was built between 1909 and 1912 in a

neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style by architect Pierre Langerock as the residence of one person, Countess Jeanne de Mérode. Jeanne de Mérode was born in Paris in 1853 as a daughter of Charles-Antoine Ghislain de Mérode-Westerloo, Marquess of Westerlo and Princess Marie-Nicolette d'

Arenberg Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a former county, principality and finally duchy that was located in what is now Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian noble family. History First mentioned in the 12th ...

. She remained unmarried and devoted her life to religion and charitable works. To provide employment for the population of Westerlo (especially for young girls and women) she founded a carpet factory in Westerlo. She also financed a church, a school and a monastery in Heultje, and a home for the elderly in

. She lived with her parents and siblings in the 'old castle' until the death of her brother, Count Henri de Mérode, in 1908. At that time, she decided to move out. She planned to reside in the castle of

Grimbergen Grimbergen () is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, 10 km north of the capital Brussels. It comprises the towns of Beigem, Grimbergen, Humbeek, and Strombeek-Bever. In 2017, it had a population of 37,030 and an are ...

which she had inherited from her father. As she was very popular with the local population, the people of Westerlo begged her to stay in the region. From 1909 onwards the vast castle was constructed hardly a kilometre away from her paternal residence. The architecture of the facades was inspired by the early 16th century late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

wing of the nearby abbey of Tongerlo. A more aristocratic appearance was achieved by adding four small and one large tower, as well as a bell tower in the form of a crown. Although both interior and exterior were executed in a historical style, the building contained many modern features that were very rare on the countryside at the beginning of the 20th century. The cross-beams supporting the roof were in steel, and the building had electric lighting, an electric elevator, central heating, running water, WCs and bathrooms. As Jeanne de Mérode was very devout, the Castle also had its own private

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

. On the altar she kept her most important treasure, the famous

Mérode Altarpiece The Mérode Altarpiece (or ''Annunciation Triptych'') is an oil on oak panel triptych, now in The Cloisters, in New York City. It is unsigned and undated, but attributed to Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin and an assistant. The three pa ...

by the 15th century painter

Robert Campin Robert Campin (c. 1375 – 26 April 1444), now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych, before the discovery of three other similar panels), was the first great master of Early Netherlandish paint ...

. After her death, it was acquired from her heirs by the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York for the

Cloisters A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

collection. When German troops invaded Belgium in 1940 the castle was confiscated and used as a local headquarters by the Nazis. Countess Jeanne moved back to the 'old castle' of Westerlo where she died on 1 July 1944, a few months before the liberation of Belgium. She left the castle to a monastic order of sisters. The building was used by the church as a home for retired priests until it was sold to the municipality of Westerlo in the 1970s. It has served as the Town Hall of

ever since.

Castle of Baron de Trannoy

In nearby Tongerlo built during and after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

by a noble family. Now owned by the

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

de Meeûs d'Argenteuil family. The name of the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

is now Castle de Meeûs d'Argenteuil.

Castle of the Naets family

Built in the 1920s by a wealthy family of notaries and local administrators.

Sources

*Evrard Op de Beeck,''Vijfhonderd jaar familie de Merode te Westerlo'', Heemskring Ansfried, Westerlo, 1982. *Henri Vannoppen, ''Het kasteel van Westerlo en de Prinsen de Merode'', Heemskring Ansfried, Westerlo, 1989. *Kris De Winter, ''Westerlo, land van Merode'', Heemkring Ansfried, Westerlo, 2000.

External links

Official website of Castle "de Mérode" in Westerlo www.kasteelfeesten-westerlo.be
in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...