Bornem Castle

Bornem Castle, also known as the Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde Castle (Dutch: Kasteel van Bornem, or Kasteel Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde), is a country house, formerly a castle, located in Bornem, province of Antwerp, Belgium. Bornem Castle is situated at an elevation of 1 meters.

The building stands on the Oude Schelde, a dead arm of the river Scheldt. The earliest fortification on the site was of the 10th or 11th centuries and was intended to defend against the incursions of the Vikings. A manor house was built on the foundations of the older building in 1587 by the Spanish nobleman Pedro Coloma, Baron of Bornhem and lord of Bobadilla, a follower of Alexander Farnese. The property was afterwards leased by the family de Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, who became the outright owners in 1773.

The present house was built on the same site at the end of the 19th century to plans by Hendrik Beyaert, after the remains of the 16th-century building had been demolished. It remains in ownership of the house Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, the current resident is John de Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, 14th Count of Bornem.

Pedro Coloma, Baron of Bornhem Alexandre Coloma, second baron of Bornhem Pierre Coloma, Viscount of Dourlens, third baron of Bornhem Jean-François Coloma, fourth baron and (1658) 1st Count of Bornhem François-Claude Coloma, 2nd Count of Bornhem Charles-Joseph-François Coloma, 3rd Count of Bornhem, died 1724 Marie-Florence Coloma, 4th Countess of Bornhem Aldegonde-Eleonore de Lannoy; Lady of Bornem: marr. Baudry-Adelbert de Marnix.

Text adapted from “Bornem Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bornem Castle ranks #3,710 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #41 of the 92 mapped in Belgium. Founded c. 1000, it is older than 92% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 138 atlas entries founded in the 10th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,484 times in the last 60 days, more than 59% of the atlas. 10 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Antwerp, 18 km away. See how Belgium compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗