Waterslot Prinsenhof

Hasselt, Belgium, Belgium

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Waterslot Prinsenhof is a historic moated castle site in Kuringen, a village in the municipality of Hasselt in Belgian Limburg, built on a raised oval terrace surrounded by water and known since the 13th century as the residence of the Counts of Loon and later of the Prince‑Bishops of Liège.

The first wooden motte on this place was probably replaced by a stone castle with a moat and four round corner towers in the 14th century, and after the destruction of the count’s main fortress in Borgloon in 1232 the Counts of Loon used Kuringen as their main residence until 1366, when the County of Loon was joined to Liège and the domain became a seat of the court of law of the county.

In 1515 Prince‑Bishop Erard van der Marck rebuilt the castle as a watercastle on the same site and laid out the park around it; the castle was then used by the Prince‑Bishops, and even Emperor Charles V visited it in the 16th century, but in the 17th century it fell into decay, was partly destroyed by French soldiers in 1688, and finally largely demolished in 1742, with its materials used to rebuild the Broekermolen mill in Hasselt.