Château de La Roche-en-Ardenne

En un regard

Le château en bref

Perched on a rocky spur encircled by a loop of the Ourthe and backing onto the Deister hill, the feudal castle of La Roche-en-Ardenne overlooks the town that developed at its foot. The site was occupied as early as the Neolithic period, then by a Celtic oppidum and a Roman camp; a first castle is attributed to Count Adalhard around 844. In 1152, the county passed to Henry the Blind, Count of Namur, and in 1196 to his daughter Ermesinde of Luxembourg, which linked La Roche to the counts of Luxembourg. In the fourteenth century, John the Blind authorised the construction of ramparts and towers; between 1681 and 1688, Louis XIV had the defences reinforced by a pupil of Vauban. Neglected in the eighteenth century, struck by lightning in 1721 and dismantled under Joseph II, the castle then served as a quarry before being bombarded in December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. The ruins, which illustrate several centuries of military architecture, can be visited today, with seasonal events (falconry, a medieval market, shows) and are associated with the legend of the ghost of Berthe de La Roche. The steep paths make access impossible for wheelchair users.