Antoing Castle

Antoing, Belgium, Belgium

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Antoing Castle (French: Château d’Antoing, also called Château des Princes de Ligne) is one of Belgium’s best‑known and most historic castles, situated on the right bank of the Scheldt (Escaut) River in the town of Antoing in Hainaut, Wallonia, about 6 kilometres south of Tournai.

Its origins date back to the 12th century, when a motte‑and‑bailey castle was built by the Count of Flanders on this site, and the present structure mainly reflects 13th‑ and 15th‑century construction, including 12th‑century surrounding walls and a 15th‑century fortified bastion (bolewerk), before the whole château was transformed in the 19th century into a magnificent neo‑Gothic residence by architects linked to the famous French restorer Viollet‑le‑Duc.

The castle originally belonged to the powerful Melun family, then passed in 1634 by inheritance to the Princes de Ligne, who have owned it continuously for generations and still live there, making it a genuine, never sold family seat whose history includes visits by figures such as Philip the Good, Charles the Bold, Emperor Maximilian, Charles V, Louis XIV, Louis XV and, more recently, a young Charles de Gaulle when the building served as a French Jesuit college in exile in 1907–1908.