Burg Grouven

En un regard

Le château en bref

Burg Grouven is a former fortified manor, now a farm estate, in the heart of Grouven (Elsdorf), a village on the Roman road linking Cologne to Jülich; it probably served to guard this route. Mentioned around 1500 as property of the bailiff of Bergheim, it belonged to a family of ministeriales bearing the village's name, then passed in the 17th century to the Wolff family: Rütger Wolff (1649–1727) rebuilt it around 1691 with his wife Anna Margaretha von Wevorden, called Drove, as shown by their joint coat of arms above the gateway, a leaping wolf and a stag. Around the middle of the 19th century the complex was enlarged into a large brick quadrangle, still preserved today. In 1945 fighting between a retreating German unit and American artillery caused heavy damage in the village, above all to the castle.