Rechteren Castle

Dalfsen, Netherlands, Netherlands

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Rechteren Castle, located near Dalfsen in Overijssel, Netherlands, on an island in a side branch of the Overijsselse Vecht River, is the province's only surviving medieval castle, first mentioned in 1190 as a fortified farm owned by the counts of Bentheim.

Rebuilt around 1320 by Herman van Voorst after acquiring it in 1315, it passed through inheritances to the van Heeckeren family, who later became the van Rechteren counts, and it remains privately owned by their descendants today, not open to the public.

Besieged in 1522 by the Duke of Gelre and occupied by Spanish troops from 1584 to 1590 during the Eighty Years' War, it was partially demolished by Prince Maurits in 1591, losing its defensive walls and canal, with later 18th-century neo-Gothic additions reversed in 1953 to restore its earlier style.