Reijvissche Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Rijvissche Castle (Reijvissche), in Zwijnaarde (Ghent), was originally a moated farm belonging to the abbey of Saint Peter's in Ghent. The Ghent patrician family Rijvissche held it as a fief in the 13th and 14th centuries and gave it their name. It is the oldest of the castles in the Parkbos de Zwijnaarde and the only one to have kept its triple moat; its buildings show layers dating from the 13th to the 20th century. From the Rijvissche period survive the stone gateway with brick defensive turrets and the double defensive wall, remnants of a fortified castle from Ghent's defensive belt. In 1564, Joris Rockelfing, husband of Francisca-Louisa van der Sickelen, acquired the estate; he built the north wing, which retains a kitchen with Delft tiles. A classicising wing, with stuccoed ceilings and marble fireplaces, was added at the end of the 18th century. The landscape park dates from the early 19th century; after the damage of the First World War, the architect Amand Janssen restored the whole and added a winter garden. The castle is privately owned and inhabited, and is not open to visitors.