Kasteel Smissenbroek

Oosterzele, Belgium, Belgium

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Kasteel Smissenbroek, also known as Kasteel Smissenbroeck or Kasteel Keiberg, is a historic estate in the village of Keiberg in Oosterzele, East Flanders, Belgium, situated along the Geraardsbergsesteenweg and the Ettingebeek stream on a domain that expanded from about 17 hectares to roughly 40 hectares.

The site originally held a 17th‑century manor house set within a moated enclosure with an access gate and bridge, and around 1740 a new country palace in the style of Louis XIV was built on this old site by Charles‑Prosper Maelcamp, lord of Schoonberge, who later obtained the title of marquess; he created a double approach avenue and a geometrically laid garden park with avenues, ditches, walls and ponds.

In 1808 the castle passed to Charles‑Joseph Rodriguez d’Evora y Vega, the Marquess of Rode, through his mother, and from the 19th century it was inherited by the d’Ursel de Bousies family, who owned it until 1988 and leased it to various tenants. The building was largely destroyed by fire in 1947 and subsequently restored by Brussels contractor Maurice Delens, with a later fire in 2018 damaging the coachhouse.

The estate remains a prominent Joos‑style manor in the area, now developed as an ecological experience park and venue for conferences, workshops and team‑building activities run by Isabelle d’Ursel, featuring a large vegetable garden, a pond, woodland, orchards and event spaces such as the orangery and the “Klaverzaal” in the castle.