The dussen castle locally known as kasteel-dussenis located in the town of Dussen, belonging to the province of North Brabant, in the Netherlands.
Origins of Dussen Castle
The Construction of Dussen Castle began in the year 1387when Albert I of Bavaria granted Arent van der Dussen permission to build a fortified house.
Aren’t erected a building with a square plan, with sides of about 28 meters, and an entrance on its north side between two heavy round towers. Residential wings on the other 3 sides enclosed the elevated courtyard. There was also probably a square keep in the southeast corner. The thickness of the walls of this keep and the outer walls of the castle varied from 2.7 to 3 meters.
The east tower, near the gatehouse, had a small prison.
destruction and reconstruction
The proud castle of Arent van der Dussen it was severely damaged as a result of the Santa Isabel flood in 1421. Its reconstruction began half a century later, when the fortress underwent major modifications. During that time, the exterior walls were lowered by the interiorwhat reduced its thickness from 3 to 1.2 meters to gain space.
Unfortunately, not much remained of the 15th century restorations. April 7, 1573 Dussen castle was besieged and taken by Spanish troops during the Eighty Years’ War. This siege severely damaged the castleespecially its northwest corner.
in 1607 the castle was sold to Lord Walraven, Baron of Ghentfor 40,000 Dutch guilders. Lord Walraven partially rebuilt the castle; he did not rebuild the northwest tower, but built an arcade around the courtyard.
Due to financial needs, Lord Walraven sold Dussen Castle in 1620 to Eduard van Axel, Jacot, a wealthy man from Alkmaar. Until the 20th century the castle remained in the possession of his descendants.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the owners of Dussen Castle did not reside there, but on the properties they had in the south of what is now Belgium. This made the castle will deterioratebut also prevented drastic renovations that would have destroyed its original appearanceas was the case with many other Dutch castles in those days.
In 1901, the owners handed over the castle to a religious order, becoming the Home of the Carmelite Sisters after being expelled from France. Dussen Castle functioned as a convent until 1920.
Suringar family and eccentricities
Next the castle stood empty for 4 yearsuntil the Suringar family took over the property at a price of 20,000 guilders.
An eccentric woman from the Suringar family lived in the castle until her death in 1931. It is said that, during the nights, the woman was guarded by 6 men residents of the town of Dussen and ordered his donkey to sleep in a room in one of the towerswhile the guards slept in the arcade built years before.
Public auction and town hall
in 1931 the castle was put up for public auctionbut due to the demolition ban, no buyers found. In 1935, the castle was bought by the local Dussen authorities for 15,000 guilders. By then they began restore the castle to make it usable as a town hall.
The restorations did not shine for a long time in their maximum splendor, as the heavy bombardments of 1944 caused the castle towers to suffer serious damage and one wing to collapse. From 1947 to 1953 Dussen Castle was rebuilt again.
Touring Dussen Castle
Nowadays, Dussen Castle is the seat of the city council of the city of Dussen.