En un regard
Le château en bref
The Old Castle of Petegem, on the River Scheldt, occupies a site whose archaeological remains suggest a Carolingian curtis, later converted into a burcht in the 13th century by the lords of Petegem; the Flemish inventory records a mention in a charter of 864. Ruined in the 17th century, the site received in 1789–1790, from Judocus Clemmen, a neoclassical residence in the Louis XVI style, possibly designed by the Ghent architect David 't Kindt (attribution uncertain). The rectangular building, of brick and natural stone, had five bays and three and a half storeys under a slate roof. It was largely destroyed in 1918 by a bombardment; today it survives as a ruin of a single storey, with a central stone perron and, in a rear room, wall paintings depicting harbour scenes. The former carriage house and the trapezoidal moat with its access bridge complete the ensemble.