In Landgoed Slangenburg, in the midst of a landscape made up of forested fields, meadows and canals, stands the 17th century Slangenburg Castle. Already in 1354 there is already talk of a castle in the woods near Doetinchem. Since 2016 the completely independent Guest House is open to guests who want a stay in a quiet environment, surrounded by peace and nature.
Kasteel Slangenburg History
Slangenburg Castle is a castle in the municipality of Doetinchem in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The castle is located in the forest of the same name between the towns of Varsseveld and Doetinchem.
Slangenburg Castle was built in the late medieval period. In the 17th century the castle became the property of General Frederik Johan van Baer, also known as General Slangenburg, who rebuilt it for residential purposes.
The last inhabitant of a long line of castle lords from the Van Baer family from the 14th century, Lieutenant General Frederik Johan baron van Baer van Slangenburgh (1645-1713), lost his wife after a serious illness when they had only been married for a year and a half. Frederik van Baer never remarried and enriched the Slangenburg with paintings that constantly reminded him of his beloved wife. He commissioned the painter Gerard Hoet to provide the castle walls and ceilings with appropriate mythological images. In doing so, the myths have been somewhat adapted: many paintings contain elements that have to do with Van Baer's love for his wife.
The last private owners were a German family called Passmann, who are buried in a private cemetery near the moat. After the Second World War all German properties were confiscated by the Dutch government, which thus acquired the castle which, with the surrounding land and buildings within the outer moat, is now part of the portfolio of the Rijksgebouwendienst ("Royal Buildings Service") , while the surrounding area is under the care of the Dutch environmental agency, the Staatsbosbeheer.
Currently the castle is used as a guesthouse by the nearby Benedictine monastery, the Abbey of San Willibrord (Sint-Willibrordabdij), a newly built structure from the 1950s located on part of the former castle estate. The original monastic community, coming from the abbey of Oosterhout, was initially housed in the castle itself in the years immediately following the war.
The monastery's estate and chapel are open to the public. The estate, roughly trapezoidal in shape, is characterized by a system of centuries-old alleys.