Schoten Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Schoten Castle, located in the province of Antwerp, is a brick residence with a U-shaped plan flanked by four corner towers, at the end of a former avenue of beech trees. The "hof van Schoten" is mentioned as a farm as early as 1232. A first castle, destroyed in 1542 by Maarten van Rossem, was replaced around 1550 by the present building, erected at the initiative of Jan van Crombach, mayor of Antwerp. It served as the administrative seat of the lordship of Schoten after 1564 and retained this function until the French Revolution. Around 1750, the front and rear façades were remodelled in the classicist style, while the towers and the sides retained their traditional 16th-century appearance. Of the former fortified gate, the Valkentoren, a square dovecote, survives, adjoining an 18th-century rococo gate. Acquired by the municipality in 1950, the estate was opened in 1955 as a cultural centre in a public park; the west wing, destroyed by fire in 1972, was restored from 1974 to 1976.