Kasteel van Dormaal

En un regard

Le château en bref

Dormaal Castle is located in Dormaal, a part of Zoutleeuw (Léau), in Flemish Brabant, on the banks of the Molenbeek. It was the former seat of an important lordship on the edge of the County of Loon, with high, middle and low justice. In the 14th century, the estate already included a castle, a feudal court and a court of census, under the van Bindervelt family, before passing for generations to the powerful lords of Berghes. The medieval castle, in ruins by the end of the 17th century, was replaced in 1765–1768 by a Neoclassical residence commissioned by the heirs, and in the last quarter of the century a large wing was added. The whole forms a U-shaped complex in brick on a quartzite plinth: a double-pile main block of five bays with pilasters, a central projecting bay with a triangular pediment decorated with a coat of arms, symmetrical dormers and arched openings in white stone. A barn bears the date 1728. The neighbouring seigneurial watermill, attested since the 14th century, completes the site, which was protected in 1996 as a monument and as an ensemble.