'Kasteel Kijckuit or Belvédère in Wijnegem: The first known owner of the castle is Petrus van Hecke. He sold the farm with the Kijkuit playhouse to Aloysius du Bois on 30 December 1648. The property changed owners regularly and in 1722 the castle property was transferred to canon Christianus Terninck. In 1742 the possessions were transferred to the Terninck foundation. In the seventeenth century, the period of the Counter-Reformation, numerous pious institutions emerged in the Southern Netherlands. At the end of their lives, clergy and wealthy laymen left goods and possessions to religious institutions or founded charitable works with their capital. This was also done in September 1697 by canon Christiaan Terninck (1667-1745), treasurer of the Antwerp Cathedral of Our Lady. The Foundation was responsible for the housing and education of a number of orphan girls. The directors of the Terninck Foundation sold the castle domain De Kijckuyt on 12 June 1750 to Lady Anna-Maria du Bois, who transferred the possessions to E.H. Joannes van Eij, dean of the cathedral church of Antwerp, on 22 August 1753.
E.H. van Eij in turn donated the property to Hermanus-Josephus Botermans, a merchant in Antwerp, on 22 March 1762. His children had the property, measuring 8 hectares, publicly sold on the Antwerp Friday market on Friday 10 November 1769. Jean-Michel-Joseph van Havre had the old court of plaisance demolished to build a new building. After purchasing the castle property, he gradually began to purchase land, so that he significantly expanded the property in a short time. When the Lord of Havre died in 1804, the property, including lands, meadows and forests, had grown to an area of 55 hectares. During the French occupation, the property of the exiled family was seized by the French state and sold publicly. They nevertheless succeeded in reacquiring all the confiscated property through intermediaries. After the death of Jean-Michel, it was his son Charles-Joseph-Antoine van Havre who acquired ownership of the domain. Charles van Havre had major changes made to the castle and the domain, the castle was completely rebuilt according to the prevailing building trends. The Egyptian house, which later served as a hunting lodge, was also built by him. However, this building was demolished in the mid-sixties. Thanks to his efforts, spacious ponds, gardens and the park behind the castle were created. Charles van Havre died in 1814, after which the domain passed to his son Constantin. Gustave-Charles-Antoine-Marie van Havre, son of Constantin, became the next owner of the domain.
The Kijckuit castle is still owned by the van Havre family.
Translated by Google •
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