Castle of Broukmans

Belgium, Belgium

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The “Castle of Broukmans” is most commonly known as Kasteel de Brouckmans, a neo‑classical manor house in the village of Hoeselt in Belgian Limburg, built in the mid‑18th century by the sons of Jean Ignace de Brouckmans, lord of Werm, on the site of an earlier house built by their grandmother Lutgardis de Heusch near the church and the Dries.

In 1756 the building was substantially renovated in line with the architectural fashion of the time, a change that is marked by a date stone above the main gate, and the estate was closely linked with the nearby Castle ter Borch, whose lands had already come into the de Brouckmans family. 

The last de Brouckmans descendant living there, Martha de Brouckmans (1836–1905), sold the buildings and park to the Sisters of Charity of the Providence (Zusters van de Voorzienigheid), who, after secularisation in France, moved to Belgium and set up an orphanage in the castle that operated until the end of the Second World War; afterwards the site became the IKSO (Instituut voor Katholiek Secundair Onderwijs) secondary school, and the sisters left in 2013 for a new location in the Bruiloftstraat, leading to the sale of the castle and park to a developer.

The castle and park are now part of the Burghof estate, which includes a park with old trees, a former moat now converted into a pond, and the remains of the 17th‑century Castle ter Borch, including the Bethaniatoren, foundations and water channels, and the 18th‑century parts of the de Brouckmans building (the main residence and gatehouse) together with these ter Borch remnants are legally protected as monuments within this historic domain.