Zoerselhof Castle

The current building, with rooms for the abbot and the provost, was built in 1787 by the provost Bonifacius De Wolf. He managed the estates of the Hemiksem monastery, a former Cistercian abbey in the municipality of Hemiksem in the province of Antwerp. Since then, the farm has served as a children's home, a guesthouse, a hotel-restaurant, and finally a castle. Nowadays, you could live there – with the necessary cash.

The Zoerselhof dates from just before the French Revolution and was built by the monks of the abbey of Hemiksem. Through a donation of 1233 from the Duke of Brabant, Hendrik I, large areas of Zoersel and Westmalle came into the hands of the Abbey of Villers-la-Ville. That abbey wanted to found a new abbey in Zoersel. It did not happen.
It was eventually built in Hemiksem and those monks of Hemiksem eventually provided a large part of the view that Zoersel has today.

Zoerselhof was built as the abbot's court of the Cistercians. The current building with quarters for abbot and provisor was erected in 1787 by provisor Bonifacius De Wolf (provisor or steward, the representative of the Hemiksem abbey, who managed the abbey property on behalf of the abbot). It seems that the castle was built on older foundations. Attacked during the French Revolution, so that the domain came into the hands of J.P. Schmitz, who sold it to D'Arquet and Tréau in 1803. Knew several owners, including Baron Van de Put, who had major repairs carried out. After the Second World War, it was converted into a hotel-restaurant. On November 4, 1956, a fire ravaged the top floor. However, immediately recovered.