Castle Terbiest

Sint-Truiden, Belgium, Belgium

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Castle Terbiest (Dutch: Kasteel van Terbiest) is a historic manor house and water‑fortified estate in the hamlet of Terbiest, part of the village of Melveren in the municipality of Sint‑Truiden, Limburg, Belgium, located at Terbiest 104 on a tree‑lined avenue and still surrounded in part by its moat.

The lordship of Terbiest was first mentioned in the 13th century, and in around 1490 it passed to the De Blocquerie family; Christoffel de Blocquerie built the castle as a water castle in 1627, and this 17th‑century core remains clearly visible in the present building, which later came into the hands of the Van der Vinne family in the 19th century and then of the modern SAVo medical company, which uses it as a workplace and office complex.

The castle is a single, symmetrical manor house in brick with stone dressings and a typical central entrance bay, set within a large, partly wooded park with remnants of the original moat and a pond fed by the Terbiest stream, and the whole ensemble of castle, approach avenue and park forms a protected cultural‑historical landscape in the Haspengouw region.

Today Castle Terbiest is a private, occupied building and not a public museum or hotel, but visitors can admire its exterior and setting from the avenue and nearby paths, making it a quiet example of a 17th‑century water castle that has been continuously adapted for modern use while preserving its historic character and landscape surroundings.