Kasteel van Wijer, Medieval castle in Wijer, Belgium
Kasteel van Wijer is a castle with brick walls and Gothic elements located in the Belgian countryside. A stone bridge crosses a wide moat fed by the Wijerbeek stream to reach the main structure.
The castle was initially controlled by the De Vivario family before passing to the Lords of Diest. The 17th century brought major renovations that reshaped its architectural character.
The coats of arms above the entrance gate belong to Arnold de Kerckhem and his cousin and wife Anne-Marie de Kerckhem, who had the gatehouse, a dwelling and the castle farm built after 1657. The tower was rebuilt in Maasland Renaissance style at that time.
The castle stands at Grotestraat 205 in Wijer, with the Wijerbos to its east. A stone bridge, once a drawbridge, crosses the Wijerbeek and the broad moat to the gate; the castle farm lies on the far side. The grounds are private, so visitors view the brick facade, tower and moat from the public road and surrounding paths.
The keep's 1716 baroque stucco carries the coats of arms of the Van Afferden family, who owned the castle from 1699. The crenellations on the keep and the terrace date from the late 19th-century neo-Gothic remodelling, not from the medieval building.
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