Huis Bergh Castle is one of the oldest and most important Dutch castles, located on the border with Germany in a beautiful area ideal for hiking and cycling. Once the residence of the Lords of Bergh and the Hohenzollern family, it features the oldest functioning Dutch windmill, an important art collection and magnificent gardens.
Kasteel Huis Bergh History
The history of the castle of Huis Bergh begins in the thirteenth although there are few documents concerning it dating back to this period.
It is believed that around 1100 AD. a wooden tower had risen on an islet in a swamp. Around 1200 AD this wooden tower, or keep, was replaced by a circular tower. The remains of this tuff tower are still visible in the wall to the left of the current entrance door to the large hall. In the following years the main building of the castle was enlarged.
Huis Bergh Castle is the ancestral home of the Bergh lords and subsequent counts. One of the best-known Bergh counts was Willem van den Bergh, who in 1556 married Maria van Nassau, the sister of William of Orange. The year 1712 marked the end of the Van den Bergh line. By female line, the castle and its possessions passed into the properties of the noble German family Von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
The Hohenzollerns were never really interested in their Dutch possessions, selling most of the land on the Bergh estate. The castle was eventually saved when in 1912 Jan Herman van Heek bought it, its rights and possessions from Prince Wilhelm.
Jan Herman van Heek, an industrialist from Enschede, was deeply fascinated by the Middle Ages. This charm has inspired him both in the way he has restored the castle and in the art he has collected over the years.
In 1946 Van Heek transferred his ownership to the Huis Bergh Foundation, with the aim of preserving the castle, the art collection and the surrounding woods for posterity.
The permanent collection of the Huis Bergh castle includes Italian painting, Northern European painting, historical portraits, medieval manuscripts and incunables, coins and sculptures.
The round tower and the "flat" tower on the outer courtyard have been transformed into luxury suites.
The suites, spread over two floors, allow you to experience the authentic medieval atmosphere between massive walls, niches and spiral staircases, without sacrificing the modernity of the state-of-the-art bathrooms, Wi-Fi Internet connection and flat-screen TV.