Castle of Aigremont

Flémalle, Belgium, Belgium

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Castle of Aigremont (Château d’Aigremont) is a striking early-18th-century castle in Awirs, a part of the municipality of Flémalle in Liège province, Wallonia, Belgium, built on a steep hill about 80 metres above the left bank of the Meuse River and about 17 kilometres southwest of Liège.

The site already existed as a legendary medieval fortress linked with figures such as the four sons of Aymon and used as a refuge by dissidents and even William of La Marck in the 15th century, but the present building is a classical-style residence erected between 1717 and 1727 by Archdeacon Mathias Clercx, who bought the former domain and transformed it into a pleasure house inspired by French architectural treatises yet adapted to local Liège and Meuse traditions.

The exterior of the castle is sober and relatively austere, with a symmetrical façade and pale stone, but the interior contrasts sharply with rich baroque decoration, including one of Belgium’s finest sets of wall paintings and trompe-l’œil frescoes in the stairwell that imitate the architecture of an Italian palace, fine woodwork in the salons, and a kitchen with Delft tiles bearing more than a thousand different patterns.