Betho Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Betho Castle stands in the Hesbaye countryside, near Tongeren, at the heart of an estate that combines a residence partly surrounded by a moat with an enclosed farm, arranged symmetrically around two communicating courtyards. The site appears in the sources in 1267 under the form "Betue" and was then a fief of the Principality of Liège. A tower added in 1478, probably the present south corner tower, is its oldest surviving witness. Most of the buildings and the barn date from the mid-17th century; the south-east wing, the farm and the Louis XIV-style central bay were added between the late 17th and early 18th centuries, probably under Pierre de Simonis and then François de Hinnisdael. The south-east façade has thirteen bays, and the castle is flanked by a tower at each corner, under slate roofs of varied shapes, in brick, marl and limestone. The Betho, Oyembrugge, Krafft, de Simonis, de Hinnisdael, van der Gracht and de Copis families succeeded one another there. The ensemble was protected as an architectural heritage site by the Flemish Region in 2018.