En un regard
Le château en bref
Meldert Castle stands in Meldert, a district of the municipality of Hoegaarden, at the heart of an extensive landscaped estate in Flemish Brabant. The lordship is attested from 1572, when Willem II van Oyenbrugge inherited it from his father; the former manor house had burnt down in 1568. Around 1845, Joséphine-Louise van der Noot, Countess of Duras, had the old castle demolished and the present building erected in the Neo-Gothic style, to plans by the architect Vivroux of Huy. Damaged by a fire in 1877, it was restored for Count Adrien d'Oultremont de Duras, so that its present form dates from 1879. The castle was subsequently leased, notably to the American ambassador Henry Shelton Sanford between 1888 and 1890. In 1957, the Aumôniers du Travail congregation bought the estate, and the castle has since housed the Sint-Janscollege. On 14 January 1993, the Flemish Region protected the castle with its carriage house, the orangery and the swimming pool with its cabin as monuments, as well as the estate as a site. A heritage management plan was approved in 2018. Following a renovation begun in 2024, during which an original mural decoration was rediscovered in the former dining room, the school returned to the castle in January 2026. The park is open to the public.
