Chateau des Amerois

The Château des Amerois is a 19th-century neo-gothic style castle in the Ardennes forest, south-east of Bouillon, Belgium. Replacing an original building destroyed by fire, the current castle was built from 1874 to 1877 for Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders.

Royal castle of Amerois, ca 1890.


History

The domain was originally purchased in 1849 by the Count of Mesniel, who acquired land to build a manor house. In 1859, the property was purchased by Theodore van der Noot, 8th Marquess of Assche. Ten years later, the property was sold to Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, the brother of Leopold II of Belgium.

After a fire destroyed the first castle in 1873, Philippe of Belgium commissioned the architect Gustave Saintenoy to build a replacement. The chapel received special attention and received polychromes by Jules Helbig.[1] The park houses redwoods and a 158-meter-long bower. Thousands of plant and flower species were grown in several greenhouses. Prince Philippe also planned sumptuous stables. Passionate about hunting, he spent several months a year at the castle.[2] His wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, made sketches and water-colors.[3]

When Prince Philippe died in 1905, his three children inherited the castle and sold it to the Liège wood merchant Robert Colette for 7 million francs. He cut down practically all the trees and resold the property three years later to Alice Solvay, the niece of Ernest Solvay. Today, the estate still belongs to his descendants.[4]

During the First World War, a patrol of German soldiers commanded by Lt. Wolf-Werner von Blumenthal of the 2nd Reserve Heavy Cavalry occupied the castle which left it without major damage, except in the wine cellar.[5]

Residents

See also

References
  1. "Helbig, Jules [Chrétien Charles Joseph Henri]". Dictionary of Art Historians. Archived from the original on 2013-05-22.
  2. Damien Bilteryst (2014), Philippe Comte de Flandre, Frère de Léopold II, blz. 217
  3. Baudouin D'Hoore, Inventaris van het archief van prinses Marie van Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Gravin van Vlaanderen (1794-1850) 1852-1912
  4. Meuwissen, Eric (19 July 1996). "Les Amerois: des Flandre aux Solvay" [Les Amerois: from Flanders to Solvay]. Le Soir (in French).
  5. Antoine Laurenty (2003), Les carnets d'un citoyen belge. 1914-1918, blz. 79
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