Castle of Rijkel

Belgium, Belgium

---

Castle of Rijkel, known in Dutch as Kasteel van Rijkel, is a moated manor castle in the village of Rijkel, part of Tongeren-Borgloon in the Belgian province of Limburg.

It was originally the residence of the Lords of Rijkel, first mentioned in the 13th century, and from the late 14th century it was in the hands of the Bolle van Rijkel family, who used it as a manor farm rather than a true castle until the 16th century. The existing core of the building dates to the late 1500s in a late Gothic style, with a stepped gable and brick-and-limestone construction, and in the 17th and 18th centuries it was expanded into a three-winged manor house with square corner towers, giving it the appearance of a small watercastle surrounded by moats.

After the last private owners died in 1831, the castle stood largely empty for about a century, deteriorating seriously until it was rescued in the 1930s by the Association of Historic Houses of Belgium, then restored in the 1960s and 1970s by the Limburg provincial government, and finally sold again in 2003, after which it suffered neglect and is now listed for sale once more.

Despite its troubled recent history, Rijkel remains an important example of a Brabantine manor castle that evolved from a fortified farm into a dignified country residence, reflecting the local noble landholding tradition in the Hesbaye region.