Ardenne Castle or the Royal Castle of Ardenne (french: Château Royal d'Ardenne, nl, Koninklijk Kasteel van Ardenne, formerly also spelled "Hardenne") was a former residence and summer retreat of the

Belgian royal family Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's he ...

situated in the municipality of

Houyet Houyet () is a municipality of Wallonia in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 4,485 inhabitants. The total area is 122.31 km², giving a population density of 37 inhabitants per km². The municipality co ...

Namur Province Namur (; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French de ...

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

. It served as a luxury hotel from 1891 to 1949 and burned down in 1969.

History

Royal Residence

On 21 March 1837,

King Leopold I * nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik * en, Leopold George Christian Frederick , image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg , caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856 , reign = 21 July 1831 – , predecessor = Erasme Lou ...

bought of land called "Terre d'Hardenne et de Férage". In this domain, crossed by the

Lesse The Lesse is a river in the Ardennes, in the Walloon region of Belgium. It is a right tributary to the river Meuse. The source of the Lesse is near Libramont-Chevigny, in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. The Lesse flows roughly in north-west ...

and the Ywoigne, he had a rock tower built (1843) and extended an existing hunting lodge with two towers. In the same period, the king also started the construction of a country house a few kilometers away: the Royal Castle of Ciergnon. After the enthronement,

King Leopold II * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

had his father's manor demolished in 1874 to make way for the new Château Royal d'Ardenne. The building by his court architect Alphonse Balat was completed in 1891. The gardens were created by the French landscape architect Elie Lainé.

Hotel

Even before he could really use the castle, Leopold completely changed his mind. Instead of a royal country house, Ardenne would become a luxury hotel with 140 rooms. The Royal Castle of Ardenne was an attractive destination that would promote tourism for the bourgeoisie to the Ardennes. In 1897–98, a hotel building was erected according to plans by Alban Chambon. It was called ''annexe'' but was not less sumptuous than the main building. Each room had unparalleled comfort: a bathroom, running water, electric lighting and even a telephone. The hotel then also got its own station on railway line 166: the ''Halte royale d'Ardenne''. The country's first golf course was also built there. The hotel was initially managed by Colonel James North. After his death in 1898, it was leased to the '' Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels'' (CIGH), daughter of the ''

Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits Newrest Wagons-Lits, formerly (lit. ''International Sleeping-Car Company''), also CIWL, Compagnie des Wagons-Lits, or just Wagons-Lits, is a division of particularly known for its on-train catering and sleeping car services, as well as being ...

'' (CIWL). After the dissolution of the ''Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels'' (1907), Colonel Alexis Mols took over the lease. The operation was interrupted by the death of Leopold II in 1909. As a result, the domain, which then already counted 4,200 hectares, ended up in the Belgian Royal Trust. The hotel was briefly closed but reopened in 1912. In that year, on the advice of King Albert I, Mols had founded the ''Hôtel du Château d'Ardenne à Houyet'', which in turn entrusted the operation to the company ''Les Grands Hôtels Belges'', with Georges Marquet as the prominent figure.

Wars

During

World War I 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 ...

, the hotel suffered from marauding troops (first French, then German). It was not reopened until 1920. The number of rooms was expanded to 200 (1927) and the domain got its own airport (1929). Damage in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

was even worse than the first. Joachim von Ribbentrop housed his headquarters there. After the liberation, the domain was the command post of the American Fifteenth Army, who, however, evacuated it during the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

. After the war, German prisoners of war worked on the domain for some time. The Elleboudt-Lemineur couple kept it open for another four years after the war, but the market for luxury tourism from France and England appeared to have dried up. The curtain finally fell in 1949. The furniture was sold to the public (1950) and the rock tower became the club house of the ''Royal Golf Club du Château Royal d'Ardenne''.

Fire

The castle itself stood empty all this time and burned down in 1968 while roofing was being carried out on behalf of the Royal Trust. The garden sculptures were transferred to the Park of Laeken in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(including Thomas Vinçotte's ''Seahorses'') and the ruins were cleared in the 1970s. Although Chambon's outbuilding had not suffered any damage, it was also demolished. The rock tower was blown up in 1975, so the Leopold Tower is all that remains. It serves as a club house to the ''Royal Golf Club du Château Royal d'Ardenne''.

External links

Le Château Royal d'Ardenne à Houyet
Book from Henri Lemineur

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau royal d'Ardenne 1891 establishments in Belgium Houses completed in 1891 Royal residences in Belgium

Ardenne The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...