Moulbaix Castle

Moulbaix Castle, locally known as Château de Moulbaix, Château de la Forêt or Château du Chasteler, lies in a private wooded park in the town of the same name, in the province of Hainaut in the Wallonia region in Belgium.

By the end of the Middle Ages the Chasteler family owned most of the village of Moulbaix and they had a medieval castle at this site. 

Around 1860 the medieval castle was replaced by a new castle, built in a style described as Tudor Revival, designed by the architect Désiré Limbourg, by Marquess Oswald du Chasteler. In 1889 the castle suffered damage by a fire but was subsequently restored by Limbourg.

Moulbaix Castle was last inhabited by Count Aymar d'Ursel and his wife Countess Nadine de Spoelberch. After the count had died in 2005 and the countess in 2007, the castle stood fully furnished but uninhabited as their five children couldn't agree over who would inherit the castle. In the following ten years the abandoned castle dilapidated.

During that decade it also became a famous destination for fans of urban exploration. The castle gained the nickname Château de la Police because they were regularly arrested by alerted police. The castle is also said to be hunted.

In 2016 Moulbaix Castle was finally sold by auction by the descendants of the Count and Countess for 3.725 million euros to the Govaert family. What they are going to do with the castle is not yet known.

The domain of Moulbaix Castle is private property and can therefore not be visited. A beautiful castle.

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