Slangenburg Castle () is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

in the municipality of

Doetinchem Doetinchem (; Dutch Low Saxon, Low Saxon: ) is a city and Municipalities in the Netherlands, municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It is situated along the IJssel, Oude IJssel (Old IJssel) river in a part of the Provinces of the Netherland ...

in the province of

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The castle is located in the forest of the same name between the towns of

Varsseveld Varsseveld is a town in the Netherlands, located in the Dutch municipality of Oude IJsselstreek. History Middle Ages At the start of the twelfth century, Varsseveld was part of the County of Lohn, a county within the Holy Roman Empire with its se ...

and Doetinchem, about 5 kilometers from the latter. Slangenburg Castle was constructed in the

Late Medieval The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the period of European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

period. In the 17th century the castle became the property of General Frederik Johan van Baer, also known as General Slangenburg, who rebuilt it for residential purposes. The last private owners were a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

family called Passmann, who are buried in a private cemetery next to the moat. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

all German properties were confiscated by the

Dutch government The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, Frits M. Meer, Edward E ...

, who thus acquired the castle, which, with the surrounding terrain and the buildings within the outer moat, now forms part of the portfolio of the '' Rijksgebouwendienst'' ("Royal Buildings Service"), while the surrounding area falls under the care of the Dutch environmental agency, the ''

Staatsbosbeheer Staatsbosbeheer, founded in 1899, is a Dutch government organization for forestry and the management of nature reserves. Staatsbosbeheer currently oversees over 250,000 hectares of land in the Netherlands. Usually this land is open to the public ...

''. At present the castle is used as a guesthouse by the nearby

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery, St. Willibrord's Abbey (''Sint-Willibrordabdij''), a newly built structure of the 1950s situated on a part of the castle's former estate. The original monastic community, from Oosterhout Abbey, was initially accommodated in the castle itself in the years immediately following the war. The estate and the monastery chapel are open to the public. The estate, roughly trapezoid in shape, features a system of lanes which is centuries old.

Gallery

Image:IngangSlangeburg.JPG, Entrance to the castle Image:Zijkantslangenburg.JPG, The castle over the moat File:Doetinchem, kasteel Slangenburg RM527492 positie3 foto4 2012-07-22 13.02.jpg, Outside view Image:INTERIEUR, PORTRET, DETAIL - Doetinchem - 20261164 - RCE.jpg, Detail of the interior

External links

*
Slangenburg Castle: official website

Friends of Slangenburg Castle website
{{in lang, nl Castles in Gelderland Rijksmonuments in Gelderland Doetinchem

Gallery

See also

External links