Kasteel van de Hertogen van Brabant

Turnhout, Belgium, Belgium

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Kasteel van de Hertogen van Brabant is a medieval castle in the centre of Turnhout, Belgium, that originally served as a hunting lodge for the first Dukes of Brabant and later became a fortified residence and “court of pleasure”.

Its origins are 12th century, possibly even before 1110, and by the 13th century it was already an important building in the town; the structure was repeatedly altered over the centuries, notably transformed in the 16th century under Maria van Hongarije into a more elegant “Hof van plaisanterie,” and later damaged during the Eighty Years’ War when Dutch forces set its northern part on fire in 1597 after repeated battles between Spanish and Dutch troops.

By the 18th and 19th centuries the castle was in serious decay and was used as a city warehouse, a fire station, and a weaving school, and by the late 19th century it was even threatened with demolition, but in the early 20th century the newly formed province of Antwerp bought the building from the municipality and, after World War I, undertook a thorough restoration under provincial architect Jules Taeymans, rebuilding it in a careful neo-baroque style that preserved its historic character while giving it a dignified new appearance.