Kasteel Coloma

Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium, Belgium

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Kasteel Coloma is a historic moated castle and cultural centre in the heart of Sint‑Pieters‑Leeuw, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, at J. Depauwstraat 25, and is one of the most famous monuments of the municipality, well known for its castle park and its large rose garden.

The castle was originally built in traditional brick and sandstone around 1515 as a water castle with a broad, square moat, and over the centuries it was successively owned by the noble families Roos, then the Coloma family (a Catalan family that came to the Netherlands in 1577 and whose name the estate now bears), and later others, while the north façade still displays the coat of arms of Jan Karel Roos from 1678, showing that it was a prestigious “huis van plaisantie” (country pleasure house) for wealthy and notable Brussels residents.

In the 18th century the estate was part again of the Berthout family holdings, and in the 19th century it became the site of the Coloma Institute (Coloma‑Instituut), a school and boarding institution run by the Dames de Marie, but in 1984 the castle and a large part of the 15‑hectare park came into the hands of the municipality of Sint‑Pieters‑Leeuw, which after extensive renovation of both the buildings and the park reopened the castle in 1992 as a municipal cultural and tourism centre, with exhibition rooms, meeting and seminar halls that can be rented via the cultural service, and regular summer exhibitions and cultural events.