Castle of Jehay

Amay, Belgium, Belgium

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The Castle of Jehay, also called Jehay‑Bodegnée Castle (Château de Jehay), is a moated Renaissance castle located in the village of Jehay, part of the municipality of Amay in the Liège Province of Wallonia, Belgium.

Most of the surviving building dates from the early 16th century and is a rare example of Mosan (Meuse) Renaissance, characterized by its distinctive checkerboard pattern of alternating bands of white limestone and brown sandstone, pepper‑pot rounded towers, and vaulted basements that preserve parts of the earlier medieval keep from the 13th century.

The site was originally founded in the 11th century, but the current structure reflects the 16th‑century transformation; from 1720 the castle was owned by the Van den Steen family, and in the 19th century it was extensively renovated and extended in a sober Gothic Revival style.

After World II the castle was used as a hostel for displaced children of Belgian railway workers, later fell into disrepair, and was restored by Count Guy van den Steen, who filled it with an important collection of art, furniture, tapestries, silver, crystals, lace, musical boxes, and a large library of old books, as well as a unique private archaeological‑spéléological collection displayed in the cellars.