Château d'Attre

En un regard

Le château en bref

Château d'Attre, in Brugelette (Hainaut), is a Neoclassical mansion on the outside and in the Louis XV style within. It was built in the mid-eighteenth century on the banks of the Dendre, on the foundations of a medieval castle. Count François Philippe Franeau d'Hyon van Gomegnies had the main structure completed in 1752. His son, François Ferdinand, then oversaw the interior decoration, which continued for more than thirty years. The building has preserved almost all of its rocaille furniture, collections and original decoration, which makes it one of the most authentic witnesses to the eighteenth century in Belgium. It is surrounded by an estate of 17 hectares: a landscape garden and a wooded park scattered with garden follies, including a dovecote, the ruins of a belvedere tower, a hermitage, the Tour du Vignou, a Swiss chalet and a bathing pavilion. Dominating them is the ‘Rocher’, an artificial grotto 33 metres high, built in 1782 for the hunting parties of Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria. The château has been listed since 1962 and belongs to the Exceptional Heritage of Wallonia. Owned by the de Meester de Heyndonck family, it is open to visitors during the season, on Sundays and public holidays from April to October.