Kasteel Montens

En un regard

Le château en bref

On the Kasteelstraat in Massenhoven, Montens Castle, also known as the Hof van Massenhoven, stands on an island once entirely surrounded by moats, at the heart of a large wooded estate bordered by the Tappelbeek. First mentioned in the 12th century, the site was originally a modest moated residence, enlarged in the 17th century and extensively reworked in the 18th century after the fire of 1730. The present house is a restrained classical mansion, rendered and painted, with two storeys over cellars and a slate roof; its eastern façade is marked by a three-sided oriel bearing a cross. Bought in the early 19th century by Joannes Franciscus Montens, burgomaster of Lier, the estate remained with his descendants for more than a century and a half; they restored it and, around 1860, added a neo-traditional wing. Stables with stepped gables, a classical orangery, an 1864 gateway, straight avenues, a pond and a calvary with an artificial grotto form an ensemble protected since 1993, despite the land lost to the Albert Canal and the motorway.