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Arenberg Castle Park

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Arenberg Castle Park

Highlight • Historical Site

Arenberg Castle Park

Name: Arenberg Castle Park
Rating: 2

Recommended by 16 hikers

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Location: Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium

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Best Hikes to Arenberg Castle Park

4.5

(10)

hikers

1. Park Abbey – Arenberg Castle loop from Belle-Vue

13.5km

03:30

80m

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Moderate

4.4

(14)

hikers

2. Natuurgebied De Doode Bemde – Boardwalk in Doode Bemde loop from Leuven

27.9km

07:12

140m

Hard hike. Very good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Hard

4.5

(11)

108

hikers

3. Arenberg Castle – Arenberg Castle Park loop from Egenhoven

6.13km

01:34

20m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

Tips

April 4, 2025

The Arenberg Park is located around the Arenberg Castle. Various buildings, including the Saint Lambertus Chapel, the watermill and the agricultural institute, are located in the park. The Dijle meanders through the area, which is largely planted with trees.

At the end of the 16th century, Duke Charles III de Croy (1560-1612) had the Arenberg Castle moated, the park laid out and the avenue to Leuven extended. A memorial stone was built into the right side wall of the Cantine to commemorate the construction of the avenue to Leuven in 1596.

In the 18th century, when the castle and the park were owned by the Arenberg family, the entire domain was enclosed by a perimeter wall. The moat around the castle was also filled in. This resulted in a significant change to the terrain, which was originally very marshy.

Nevertheless, the structure that Charles III of Croy gave to the landscape around 1600 is still clearly recognisable. The whole of gardens, orchards and outbuildings was then arranged around two main axes, which corresponded to the axes of the castle: an (approximately) north-south avenue, from the Terbank leper colony to the Meerdaal forest that served the Croys as a private hunting domain, and an east-west avenue, which extended from the Celestine Priory, the Croys' family mausoleum, along the new stable buildings to the entrance gate right on the city walls, opposite the Namur Gate. The construction of these straight avenues, bordered with palisades, for kilometres long, had forced the duke to purchase important land and then to carry out major earthworks: hills were dug away – such as the hill on which the old Romanesque Saint-Lambert church stood, which was desecrated as a result – and holes and pits were filled in.

Duke Charles Marie Raymond of Arenberg had a ‘jardin anglois’ built in 1771 to his own design, with the Yellow House as the focal point of the picturesque garden, a pavilion on a hill to the southeast of the castle, and with many remarkable exotic tree species such as a Lebanon cedar (Cedrus libanii) that was brought over from Edingen.

The historical value of the Arenberg Park is formed by the connection with the Arenberg Castle and the other buildings located there.

Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Arenberg Park, id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/302524

Translated by Google •

Jantje 🚲 🚴‍♂️🇧🇪

March 8, 2025

For centuries, the Arenberg Park belonged to the castle domain of two powerful noble families, first the Croÿs and then the Arenbergs. After the First World War, it came into the hands of the University of Leuven. They built a large science campus in the park – following the American model. Since 1980, the Arenberg Park has been protected as a village view.

This walk starts at the Arenberg Castle and also includes stops at the Geel Huis, the Agricultural Institute, the Boshut, the Institute for Nuclear Physics, the Sint-Lambertus Chapel, the Portier's House, the Electrotechnical Institute, the Thermotechnical Institute and the Special Schools for Engineers, the watermill, the Sint-Janshuis, the Arenberg Student District, Alma 3, the Pius X College, the open-air theatre, the chapel and the Institute for Physical Education.

Translated by Google •

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Details

Informations

Elevation 30 m

Weather

Friday 12 December

9°C

4°C

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Max wind speed: 8.0 km/h

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See hikes here

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Location: Flemish Brabant, Flanders, Belgium

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Arenberg Castle Park

1. Park Abbey – Arenberg Castle loop from Belle-Vue

2. Natuurgebied De Doode Bemde – Boardwalk in Doode Bemde loop from Leuven

3. Arenberg Castle – Arenberg Castle Park loop from Egenhoven

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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