Qualla: Beersel Castle

Beersel Castle: Introduction

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alessia Tavcar, CC BY-SA 3.0. Three massive brick towers rise from a moat south of Brussels, their reflections rippling in water that has surrounded this fortress for seven hundred years. Beersel Castle has been besieged twice, sacked, abandoned, converted into a cotton factory, and left to crumble into romantic ruin before Victor Hugo wrote poetry about its decaying walls. Yet here it stands, one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Belgium, its circular walls and three great towers restored to their appearance after a 1617 renovation. Built of brick when stone was the norm for such fortifications, Beersel guards a frontier that no longer exists, between duchies whose names survive only in history books.

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Image: Alessia Tavcar | CC BY-SA 3.0

Beersel Castle: Fortress on the Frontier

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hilke Arijs, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1300, Godefroid of Hellebeke received permission from Jean II, Duke of Brabant, to build a fortification near his residence. Beersel sat at the edge of the Duchy of Brabant, facing the County of Hainaut, southwest of Brussels. The location was strategic; several Brabantine for...

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Image: Hilke Arijs | CC BY-SA 4.0

Beersel Castle: The Cannons of Louis XI

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit FrDr, CC BY-SA 4.0. The castle's second destruction came from an unexpected source: its own neighbors. When Henry III of Wittem, lord of Beersel, supported Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I during the revolts of 1483-1492, he placed himself at odds with Brussels, which backed the rebellion. Brussels m...

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Image: FrDr | CC BY-SA 4.0

Beersel Castle: From Fortress to Ruin

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hilke Arijs, CC BY-SA 4.0. By the sixteenth century, castles had become military anachronisms. Beersel lost its defensive function and became a private residence. A 1617 restoration added the tiled roofs visible on the towers and ramparts today. But by 1796, the castle was abandoned. The buildings deterior...

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Image: Hilke Arijs | CC BY-SA 4.0

Beersel Castle: Saved by Friends

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Le Roy, Public domain. In 1928, the derelict castle was donated by the House of Merode to the League of Friends of Beersel Castle. For eleven years, from 1928 to 1939, restorers worked to return the three towers and ramparts to their post-1617 appearance. The residential building on the eastern side ha...

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Image: Le Roy | Public domain

Beersel Castle: The Castle in Popular Imagination

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY 2.5. Beersel's three towers have entered Belgian popular culture. In 1954, cartoonist Willy Vandersteen featured the castle prominently in his Spike and Suzy comic book series, introducing it to generations of Belgian children. More recently, the castle gained international recognitio...

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Image: CC BY 2.5