Kasteel Van Meldert

Hoegaarden, Belgium, Belgium

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Kasteel Van Meldert (also known as Château de Maillard or simply Kasteel van Meldert) is a large early‑neo‑Gothic castle in the village of Meldert, part of the municipality of Hoegaarden in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, set on a 40‑hectare estate of park and woodland and now serving as the main building of the Sint‑Janscollege, a secondary and vocational school run by the Aalmoezeniers van de Arbeid (Prefects of the Works).

The castle’s origins go back to the 14th century, when the lords of Meldert had their seat in a 14th‑century donjon (tower‑house), and after a fire in 1568 a new manor was built on the site; this 16th‑century building was demolished around 1845, when Countess Joséphine Louise van der Noot de Duras commissioned the Liège architect Auguste‑Marie Vivroux to design a new neo‑Gothic country house, which was later internally arranged by the Brussels architect Pierre‑Victor Jamaer.

A fire in 1877, the castle was rebuilt in its present form in 1879 for the wealthy Count Adrien d’Oultremont de Duras and his family, giving the building its current appearance with a central block, towers, turrets and a high slate roof, all in Gobertange stone, and a clock‑tower and decorative details that give it a romantic, almost “school‑like” character.