Ruines château-fort Dalhem

Dalhem, Belgium, Belgium

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The Ruines du château-fort de Dalhem are the remains of an important medieval fortress on a rocky spur above the town of Dalhem in the province of Liège, Belgium, once the seat of the counts of Dalhem and a key strategic stronghold controlling routes along the right bank of the Meuse toward Maastricht, Tongres, Liège, Huy and Aachen.

The castle was originally built around 1076–1080 by the counts palatine, and over the centuries it dominated the confluence of the Berwinne and Bolland valleys, its walls and towers built from dark blocks of sandstone and schist forming a formidable defensive position.

It suffered severe damage during the Eighty Years’ War after fierce fighting when a small garrison was massacred by the troops of Alexander Farnese in 1578, and was finally besieged and destroyed in 1648 by forces of the Dutch States General, after which it was never rebuilt and fell into ruin.

Today only fragments survive, including a high section of wall about 14 metres high and 30 metres long, parts of the keep ending in a blind heavy wall, and remains of two large towers near the entrance, while the old fortification’s foundations are now incorporated into the houses of the upper and lower market of Dalhem, making the site a quiet but historically significant landmark of the former county of Dalhem.