The castle cannot be visited. Today it is a penentiar school center. history: According to legends, in the ninth century the Norman Gelmel erects a wooden castle tower with a moat around it. Around the 12th century, this wooden tower was converted into a stone castle. Jan IV van Cuijk renovated the castle in Gothic style in the first half of the 15th century. After inheritance, the castle and the land of Hoogstraten comes into the hands of the family van Culemborg and Van Lalaing.
Under the first count of Hoogstraten, Antoon I van Lalaing and his wife Elisabeth van Culemborg the castle is converted into a beautiful and luxurious Renaissance castle. They enlist the help of Rombout II Keldermans. The complex had three fortified ramparts, watchtowers, drawbridges, an armory, several chapels, richly decorated halls and colonnades. After their deaths, the castle and land of Hoogstraten passed to Count Philip van Lalaing.
The castle survives a siege by Maarten van Rossum in 1542. But it burns down in 1581 and falls into serious disrepair after a siege in 1603. There are plans for restoration in the 17th century, but they are not implemented.
Maria-Gabriëla de Lalaing was the last descendant of the house of Lalaing. She was married to Karl Florentin zu Salm, wild- und rheingraf von Dhaun-Neufville, an infantry general of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. After her death, the castle comes into the hands of the Salm family. Her grandson, rheingraf Nikolaus Leopold zu Salm-Salm, had the castle restored. In 1740 he becomes the first Duke of Hoogstraten and in 1743 Prince of Salm-Salm.
The castle is again struck by fire in 1768; the core of the castle, the inner castle, is no longer rebuilt. The southern wing of the castle complex is now being used as the residence wing of the princely family.
During the French era, the castle is nationalized, looted and partly demolished. It is used as a gendarmerie barracks, and since 1810 as a shelter for beggars[1]. After 1815, the Salm-Salm family regains the lands, but the castle remains in the possession of the Dutch state. From 1880, the castle is set up as an agricultural colony, and since 1931 a penitentiary school center has been established in the castle [2].