The Château of Val-Duchesse ( ; ) is a

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

and estate in the municipality of Auderghem in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. The château, which occupies the site of a former

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

, is owned by the Belgian Royal Trust.

History

The

for women was founded in 1262 by Adelaide of Burgundy, Duchess of Brabant, widow of Henry III, Duke of Brabant. Duchess Adelaide gave her name to the place— in French or in Dutch (both meaning "Valley of the Duchess"). According to the legend, Aleydis was inspired by Saint Thomas of Aquin, who is said to have been a guest at Val-Duchesse. It was the first priory for women in the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

that followed the rule of

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic, (; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilians, Castilian Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists, and he a ...

and was generously donated by Aleydis and other noble ladies. According to her wish, Aleydis' heart was interred in a now-disappeared mausoleum. The priory further flourished and gained considerable wealth thanks to the generous gifts of numerous royal and noble families. In 1650, a wall was erected to protect the priory's various edifices. The present-day château was built as a residence for the prioress in 1780. Since

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Val-Duchesse has played an important role as a venue for negotiations in Belgian and European politics. In 1956, Paul Henri Spaak led the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the château, which prepared the Treaties of Rome in 1957 and the foundation of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

and Euratom in 1958. The first formal meeting of the

Hallstein Commission The Hallstein Commission is the European Commission that held office from 7 January 1958 to 30 June 1967. Its president was Walter Hallstein and held two separate mandates. Work It was the first commission on the European Economic Community an ...

, the first

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, under the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of Walter Hallstein, was also held there on 16 January 1958.''Procès-verbal de la première réunion de la Commission tenue le 16 janvier 1958 à Val Duchesse'' (Bruxelles), CEE/C/9 f/58 (rév.) mb, Annexe II. Bruxelles: Commission de la Communauté économique européenne, 5 February 1958 From 23 to 25 April 1990, the château hosted the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; , UEO; , WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (alliance) , Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implement ...

International Conference, which agreed the sequence of accession of the Eastern European countries of the former

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

to European structures. More recently, it has twice hosted the Belgo-British Conference, in 2002 and 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Val-Duchesse Castles in Brussels Chateau of Val-Duchesse Buildings and structures completed in the 18th century

History

See also

References

External links