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Palace

Sterckshof

Belgium · 20th century

Founded
c. 1925
Location
Antwerp
Coordinates
51.21484°, 4.46253°
Links
OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Sterckshof in Belgium
Photo: Sterckshof · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Sterckshof castle is in Deurne, Antwerp, Belgium. From 1994 to 2014 it housed the Sterckshof silver museum of the province of Antwerp. Built on the site of a much older castle, or great house, the present building is a reconstruction erected in the 1920s.

Sterckshof is about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Antwerp city centre. It is situated at an altitude of 3 metres (9.8 ft) above sea level. From as early as the 13th century the site of the castle was occupied by the fortified "Hooftvunder" farmhouse, surrounded by a moat. It was probably used to defend a nearby wooden bridge over the Grote Schijn River.

In 1523 it was described as a farm with a house, brewery, moat, ponds, fishery, etc. That year it purchased by Gerard Sterck, who put up picturesque buildings with a castle, towers and turrets, and called it Sterckshof, a name it retains today. Gerard's grandson was Guillaume de Berghes, bishop of Antwerp.

In Sterck's monument in Antwerp cathedral he is described as a knight, and lord of Busquoy, Wyneghem, Casterlé and Hooft-Vundere. Sterck was a merchant, banker and adviser to Emperor Charles V. Another owner, Jacob Edelheer, furnished the castle with art collections and scientific collections.

Unlike other castles in Antwerp, the Sterckshof was not destroyed during the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, but it was neglected during a dispute between the heirs after the owner, Jacob van Lemens, died childless in 1664.

From 1693 Sterckshof was owned by the Jesuits of Lier, but the castle was damaged or allowed to deteriorate during the war of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). After the dissolution of the Jesuit Order, the estate was sold in 1776 to the banker Jan Baptist Cogels, who merged it with his Ter Rivieren estate.

By the 1880s the buildings, long uninhabited, were no more than ruins.

In 1921 the Province of Antwerp bought the Ter Rivieren estate, with the Sterckshof castle, to make it into the current Rivierenhof park. Of the Sterckshof all that was standing was the floor of a tower, the entrance gate and some ramshackle outbuildings. In 1922 the architect JA Van der Gucht submitted plans for reconstruction.

Using old pictures and archaeological discoveries, in the 1930s the building rose as an evocative reconstruction.

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

In the rankings

Sterckshof ranks #7,274 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #120 of the 140 mapped in Belgium. Founded c. 1925, one of 175 atlas entries founded in the 20th century. 16 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Antwerp, 4 km away. See how Belgium compares in the castle statistics.

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