Castle of Westerlo

On the territory of the municipality of Westerlo there are numerous castles. Locals call it "Oud Kasteel" to parent it from the brand new citadel constructed for Jeanne de Merode in 1910-12. The citadel has been the house of the House of Merode for more than five centuries. The critical maintain or Donjon has partitions of greater than 2 m thick. I became built by means of the lords of Wesemael in local brown stone within the late 14th-century. It probably changed an older fort at the equal spot. Other parts of the constructing are believed up to now from the 15th and sixteenth century.

The castle became tailored, prolonged and renovated numerous times. From the sixteenth century onwards it became converted right into a greater costly noble living and step by step misplaced its fortified individual. Several restorations in the 19th century gave it returned a greater 'romantic' medieval appearance. The luxurious interiors comprise pleasant furniture, paintings, tapestries, Cordoba leather wall hangings and objects accumulated by means of the Merode circle of relatives at some point of the centuries.