Fallais Castle

Fallais Castle, locally known as Château de Fallais, lies in the village of the same name, in the province of Liège in the Wallonia region in Belgium.

Fallais Castle was built in the 13th century, near the Mehaigne stream, by a member of the Beaufort family. It had started out as a simple keep somewhere in the 11th century.

In 1468 it was the place where the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold, the French King Louis XI and the prince-bishop of Liège, Louis de Bourbon, met before the city of Liège was ransacked by the duke's powerful army.

In 1678, during the siege of the city of Huy, the French King Louis XIV had his quarters in Fallais Castle for several days. When he left, he ordered the eastern Bourgogne tower and the western Grignard tower of the castle to be cannonaded because it pleased him. Only the Grignard tower was later rebuilt in sandstone. In 1882 the castle was restored by the architect Van Assche. He succeeded in preserving the defensive appearance of the castle but sacrificed the medieval character of its origins, such as the original drawbridge.

In 1937 the castle was damaged by a fire. The bridge, gate building and the Grignard tower are classified monuments since 1988.

Fallais Castle is a moated, square, lowland castle with round corner towers. Its buildings are built entirely out of a limestone hardcore dating from the 14th, 16th and 17th century, laid out around a rectangular court.

The castle is private property, so it can't be visited. Too bad.

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