Haus Amstenrath

Raeren, Belgium, Belgium

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Haus Amstenrath, also known as Amstenrather Haus, Kleines Haus, Reuschenberger Haus, or simply Herrenhaus, is a fortified watercastle (Wasserschloss) in the village of Eynatten, part of the municipality of Raeren in the German-speaking part of Belgium, close to the German border and the Aachen Forest.

The site already had a medieval castle mentioned in 1248, which later fell into ruin, and in the second half of the 15th century Johann von Eynatten built the present house as a fortified manor on an island surrounded by water, with a front courtyard and a main living section enclosed within the water.

Over the centuries the property changed hands several times, passing by marriage to the von Reuschenberg family, then to the Harff and Binsfeld families, and in 1647 to Arnold Huyn von Amstenraedt, who gave the house its current name Amstenrather Haus after adding a new building on the site and establishing a more clearly defined estate layout.

In 1687 the castle was acquired by Gaspar Deltour, who carried out numerous changes that largely determined its present appearance, including the transformation of the watercastle into a more residential manor house, while preserving its distinctive layout with two parallel rectangular buildings connected at the northeast by a third structure and surrounded by a wall that encloses a small inner courtyard approachable only via a stone bridge from the southeast.