When I am on holidays I always visit the most interesting things in this place but at home I don't even think about visiting something ! I wanted to take some pictures of a castle and went to one I had been last time maybe 35 years ago ! I didn't remember anything when I rediscovered the Castle of Beersel.
It is located in the Belgian town of Beersel, south of Brussels. It has 3 ponderous watchtowers, and is surrounded by a wide moat.
The castle was built between 1300 and 1310 as a defense base for Brussels and was damaged during the war of succession of Brabant (1356-57), but was repaired just after that. In 1489 during a rebellion against Maximilian of Austria, the castle was sieged, taken and plundered by the Brusselians. It burnt down and was partially destroyed, but restored after the war.
A tiled roof was added in the 17th century, but the castle became unoccupied from the 18th century. In 1818, a cotton factory occupied the site of the fortress. The property passed by a series of owners until the last one donated the castle to the League of Friends of the Castle of Beersel in 1928, which restored it. In 1948, it passed to the Royal Association of Historic Residences in Belgium.
A drawing shows how it looked before
and when I visited it. The moat was empty because of renovation work. I couldn't take any pictures of the parc surrounding the castle, because that day the city of Beersel had organized a barbecue there.
The very heavy entrance door of the castle
embrasures all around
The stairs are terrible, like a screw taking you up to the towers !
In one quite nice preserved room there still was the chimney and the tiles
The ceiling
you can walk around these narrow ways all around the castle
but it is not very comfortable
Even early morning tourists where already there
I didn't take these steps, the staircase was so narrow !
On this old picture you can see how it should look like. The moat filled with water to keep the enemy away.
But it had been dried out for renovation
Before arriving at the castle you will find this nice restaurant/café just before the entrance.
on the patio was an old wine press
I had a coffee here before I returned home.
Brussels Time
