Beloeil Castle

Beloeil has belonged to the Princes de Ligne since the fourteenth century and the present house is largely eighteenth century, rebuilt after a fire in 1900 in the same manner: a long brick and stone block around a court, standing in a moat, with interiors holding a very large private library of some twenty thousand volumes, tapestries, furniture and family portraits accumulated over six hundred years. The garden is the larger achievement, laid out from 1664 on formal French lines across about twenty-five hectares with a long central basin, canals, clipped hedge rooms, statuary and radiating avenues, and it is frequently described as the most important formal garden in Belgium. A miniature railway and a garden festival run in season.

History

Belœil came to the Ligne family in 1394 and early in the 15th century became their main residence, a moated rectangular castle with a round tower at each corner, whose plan survives though its fronts and rooms were turned over the centuries into a luxurious French-style château. The formal park was laid out from 1664, with straight alleys, geometric ponds and hedged garden rooms kept through later fashions, and Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, added a small landscape garden with a folly; at the New Year of 1900 fire gutted the château, though most furnishings, a library of 20,000 rare volumes and the art collection were saved, and the French architect Ernest Sanson rebuilt it (Wikipedia, Château de Belœil).

What you'll find

• A twenty-five-hectare formal garden - basins, canals and hedge rooms.
• A twenty-thousand-volume library - the family collection in the house.
• Six centuries in one family - portraits and furniture accumulated throughout.
• The moat and long basin - water as the organising element of the layout.

When to go

April to September; it closes for the winter and hours are limited at the edges of the season. Half a day. The garden festival falls in early summer. Check opening before travelling.

What to expect

Opening is seasonal and can be limited to weekends outside high summer. The interior is shown on a fixed route with rooms roped. Interpretation is in French. The commercial additions, including the miniature railway, sit oddly with the formality.

Nearby

Pairi Daiza is north-east; Tournai lies north-west.

Key facts