En un regard
Le château en bref
The Smissenbroek (or Keiberg) estate, in Oosterzele, originated as a manor house, possibly a hunting lodge, surrounded by a double rectangular enclosure with a gate and bridge, dating from the 17th century at the earliest. In the 1740s the Maelcamp family had a new house built on the site of the former moated enclosure and laid out a double axial avenue as well as a park of avenues, ditches, ramparts and ponds. The Marquis de Rode, Rodriguez d'Evora y Vega, acquired the estate in 1808; it then passed to the d'Ursel family, who leased it until 1988. A fire in 1947 led to the reconstruction of the château. A former moated castle in the Louis XIV style with classicising Baroque features, it has an H-shaped plan, a single storey and nine bays under a slate mansard roof, and a central projecting pavilion with a pediment and dome; two long outbuildings line the forecourt (cour d'honneur). The 17-hectare park largely retains its 18th-century layout, with star-shaped avenues and an ice house along the western moat.