Gaasbeek Castle

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The Gaasbeek or Gaasbeek (Lennik) fortress estate is located in the heart of the Pajottenland region, near Brussels in Belgium.
A first castle was built around 1240 to protect Brussels and the Duchy of Brabant, which felt threatened by the County of Hainaut and the County of Flanders. However, it was the people of Brussels who destroyed the castle in 1388, in retaliation for the assassination of Everard t'Serclaes by Sweder d'Abcoude's henchmen.
In the early 1500s, the House of Hornes built a brick castle on the remains of the medieval citadel. In 1565, the Count of Egmont acquired the Gaasbeek estate, which included the castle and 17 villages. Egmont was beheaded in Brussels in 1568, condemned by a special tribunal (Council of Troubles) under the government of King Philip II of Spain. Over the following centuries, the castle was inhabited and rebuilt by powerful families. In the 19th century it belonged to the Arconati-Visconti family, Giuseppe Arconati Visconti stayed there after fleeing Austrian repression following the Constitutional Movement (1820/21). It hosted many of these Carbonarists such as Giovanni Berchet, Federico Confalonieri, Giovita Scalvini, Giovanni Arrivabene or Vincenzo Gioberti during their exile. Giuseppe's son, Gianmartino, inherited it. It acquired its current Romantic form mainly during the restoration between 1887 and 1898, under the leadership of the Marchesa Arconati-Visconti, wife of Gianmartino, who made Gaasbeek a cultural meeting place for artists, intellectuals, and writers.
The estate was bequeathed to the Belgian State in 1923 upon the Marchesa's death. Since 1980, the castle has belonged to the Flemish Community and houses a prestigious museum housing an important collection of works of art and historical objects, testifying to the fortress's rich past.