글랩빅‬에서 가장 멋진 ‪20‬개의 동굴

After the gruesome murder of the last owner, Baroness Thérèse Ernst de Bunswyck, the municipality purchased part of the estate, including the castle, which now serves as Boutersem's town hall. Other lots went to different owners, so the heritage's unity is somewhat lost, with several buildings besides the castle itself. However, there's much more than meets the eye.

The castle's core dates back to 1718, modified several times during the 19th century, and eclectically renovated after 1922; the castle and its outbuildings are surrounded by a 16.5-hectare park, originally a high courtyard with a watermill and mill pond; a classic 18th-century valley floor site, redeveloped in an early landscape style around 1830-1835; redeveloped around 1900 in a late landscape style; municipally owned since 1980; ice and vegetable cellars, numerous old trees. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Kwabeek Castle Estate, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/41588

The core of Horst Castle probably dates back to the 13th century and is characterised by a square keep. The keep probably belonged to the oldest core that was further expanded into a fortified castle in the 15th century. During the troubles under Maximilian of Austria in 1489, the castle of Horst was taken by the people of Leuven and set on fire. According to literary sources, only the keep, part of the entrance gate and a defensive wall remained standing. The residential and east wing were renovated and expanded in the 16th century. The round tower also dates from this period. The outer wall was provided with a rectangular bay window. The castle lost its military character and became more of a pleasant residential area with a view of the moat, the ponds and the inner courtyard. Brick construction with sandstone layers characterise these buildings. In 1587, however, the castle was set on fire again during the raids of the Geuzen. It was not until the beginning of the 17th century that restoration work began. It is difficult to deduce from the available sources to what extent this involved restoration or an embellishing conversion of the castle complex. Presumably nothing changed in the internal structure, but only after the structurally necessary repairs were the interiors completely refinished. Maria-Anna Van den Tympel had a new chapel built against the keep in the 17th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, the complex must have been damaged by plundering and neglect, and it is possible that it also suffered from plundering during the Brabant Revolution of 1830. Around 1850, the castle must have been habitable again, but the castle buildings only served as a farm. In the land registry, the site around the castle is called "De Notelaren Boomgaerd". Around that time, the most dilapidated part must have been demolished, namely the southern part and the superstructure of the gate. The rest of the complex was probably restored with reused demolition material and in traditional style. The castle was divided in 1880, with one part being registered as a school house. In 1897, a further division followed, with two plots being designated as houses. Several restoration campaigns followed in the 20th century. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Horst Castle, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/43619

Since December, there has been a spire on the castle again after the unstable spire was removed more than four years ago and could be viewed on a wooden platform in the pond. Now it is back. And the other works are also progressing quickly. More about the replaced spire on https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2024/12/10/torenspits-staat-weer-op-kasteel-van-horst-holsbeek/

Whatever the future brings, the fact remains that the castle domain is very beautiful to walk in. Tip the glaze walk of Visit Vlaams-Brabant (https://www.visitvlaamsbrabant.be/wandelen/vind-een-wandeling/vlakwandeling)

Rebuilt eclectic country house designed in 1916 by architect Chrétien Veraart and surrounded by a park in landscape style, approximately 16 hectares, laid out from 1859; numerous old (sweet chestnuts and brown beeches) and rare trees. First, the Hof te Laar stood here, known since the fifteenth century as a leasehold farm of the monastery of Gempe. In 1789, it was sold to the son of the Baron van Roosbeek. Between 1800 and 1810, the Hof te Laar was purchased by Charles-Lambert-Joseph de Maurissens. He left it to his nephew, knight Edouard Godefroid de Maurissens (1793-1853). And a few years after his death, the south wing of the court was converted into a "castle". After WWII, the then owners left the castle domain and in 1948 the heirs sold the castle and park to the University of Leuven to build a 'sanatorium' (clinic for tuberculosis sufferers) on the edge of the park. Inventory of Immovable Heritage: Domain de Maurissens, https://id.erfgoed.net/erfgoedobjecten/303094

The future of the castle is not so clear. In more recent times it was a WZC and also fell into disrepair for about a decade. In August 2023 it was announced that it would become a party hall, which was supposed to open by the summer of 2024. But that clearly did not happen. Maybe later (there were some tools)? Or does the municipality have to drag another future out of the waiting list with other partners such as those on the mentioned site or on https://www.facebook.com/kasteelvanzuurbemde/ where nothing has been posted since the end of 2023 after the announcement of a summer opening in 2024? Another message about those plans on https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/08/22/nieuwe-invulling-kasteel-zuurbemde/

Long before the Castle of Zuurbemde in its current form existed, there was already construction on the site of the current Castle Park. Initially, a feudal motte castle was located on the site of the current domain, remains of which can still be seen on the Villaret map. By 1745 at the latest, the castle had to make way for a farm, owned by the noble family 'de Foestraets' (sometimes also written as Faestraets or Festreats) who had long been firmly established in the Tienen-Glabbeek-Zuurbemde region and are said to have bought the lordly rights of Zuurbemde from Pierre van Ranst, mayor of Tienen. The farm consisted of a number of buildings in a U-shape. The story continues when one of the daughters of the 'de Foestraets' family, Pauline-Marie-Ghislaine de Foestraets, married Edmond Charles Guillaume Ghislain de la Coste in 1815. The 'de la Coste' family originally comes from the region around Genoa (originally written earlier as 'della Costa'). In the 15th century, a side branch moved to West Flanders, where Andreas (later Andries) de la Coste married Agnes Adornes (a noble family that had been living in Flanders for a long time but was also of Genoese descent) and worked his way up to Mayor of Bruges with her at his side. A number of his descendants would later also take up this position. A few generations later from this influential family, we arrive at Alexandre Augustin de la Coste (1744-1790), who married Marie Isabelle Ghislaine van der Fosse, and thus Edmond Charles Guillaume Ghislain de la Coste was born in 1788. In 1820 - 1825, Edmond Charles de la Coste built the middle part of the castle with five bays, a floor with a tetrahedron roof and a terrace in the middle. It is built in neoclassical style: the southern projecting part has three round arch windows on the ground floor, three rectangular windows on the first floor and three half windows in the roof. There is a beautiful raised terrace with balustrade on this south-west facing facade. Scaffolding holes have been made under the cornice, bordered with sandstone. After a fire around 1849, the castle was rebuilt in the current horseshoe shape, consisting of a central part with two side wings, each ending in a square pavilion. Source with much more at https://www.kasteelvanzuurbemde.be/geschiedenis