Belgium is one of the countries with the highest number of castles and manor houses per square ki... more Belgium is one of the countries with the highest number of castles and manor houses per square kilometre in Europe. They represent an important part of our country’s heritage, but are themselves a quite diverse group, with buildings constructed in different architectural styles, periods, scales and quality, often including a park and other surrounding buildings. From a historical point of view, a castle was never a construction to merely live in. The castle itself formed the heart of the estate of a noble family, but it could not function without the income provided by the extensive farm and woodlands surrounding it. Such estates played a crucial part in the life of the local community, since they generated job opportunities, whereas the owner of the castle often dominated village politics.
The great wars and social and economic reforms of the twentieth century tackled the means of existence of many domains, while inheritance issues teared the estates in even smaller pieces. Today, due to these tendencies, many historic domains have disappeared or changed owner and function. This is an important challenge for a highly valuable part of our heritage. In this regard, the research will focus on this group of traditional castle owners: noble families who have been living on these estates for generations.
In Flanders, the immovable heritage legislation has been changed recently with the introduction of the “onroerenderfgoeddecreet” and the “onroerenderfgoedbesluit” in 2015. Since this recent implementation, it is the scope of this thesis to investigate the implications of the new legislation for private heritage owners, focusing on the specific group of noble castle owners.
Since the scientific literature is limited and there is a lack of qualitative research concerning present day nobility in Flanders, the decision was made to conduct interviews with noble castle owners to generate original source material. Four noblemen were selected to be interviewed: prince Simon de Merode of the castle of Westerlo, count Ghislain d’Ursel of the castle of Hex, baron Baudouin della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Leeuwergem, and baron Bernard della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Lozer. In addition, two conservators of publicly owned castles were also selected, to generate a broader perspective and the possibility for comparison. Koen De Vlieger-De Wilde of the d’Ursel castle (owned by the province of Antwerp) and Paul de Pessemier ‘s Gravendries of the castle of Laarne (owned by Historische woonsteden en tuinen) offered their cooperation.
Based on the results of the interviews, the thesis is structured according to the most pressing issues regarding the legislation, as indicated by the respondents. Concretely: cultural goods, the management plan, fiscal benefits and premiums, and relationship with the government are analysed in seperate chapters. Next to this, the first chapter offers an introduction to the heritage decree and protection procedure, and in the final chapter a comparison with Dutch and English policies is made.
Belgium is one of the countries with the highest number of castles and manor houses per square ki... more Belgium is one of the countries with the highest number of castles and manor houses per square kilometre in Europe. They represent an important part of our country’s heritage, but are themselves a quite diverse group, with buildings constructed in different architectural styles, periods, scales and quality, often including a park and other surrounding buildings. From a historical point of view, a castle was never a construction to merely live in. The castle itself formed the heart of the estate of a noble family, but it could not function without the income provided by the extensive farm and woodlands surrounding it. Such estates played a crucial part in the life of the local community, since they generated job opportunities, whereas the owner of the castle often dominated village politics.
The great wars and social and economic reforms of the twentieth century tackled the means of existence of many domains, while inheritance issues teared the estates in even smaller pieces. Today, due to these tendencies, many historic domains have disappeared or changed owner and function. This is an important challenge for a highly valuable part of our heritage. In this regard, the research will focus on this group of traditional castle owners: noble families who have been living on these estates for generations.
In Flanders, the immovable heritage legislation has been changed recently with the introduction of the “onroerenderfgoeddecreet” and the “onroerenderfgoedbesluit” in 2015. Since this recent implementation, it is the scope of this thesis to investigate the implications of the new legislation for private heritage owners, focusing on the specific group of noble castle owners.
Since the scientific literature is limited and there is a lack of qualitative research concerning present day nobility in Flanders, the decision was made to conduct interviews with noble castle owners to generate original source material. Four noblemen were selected to be interviewed: prince Simon de Merode of the castle of Westerlo, count Ghislain d’Ursel of the castle of Hex, baron Baudouin della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Leeuwergem, and baron Bernard della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Lozer. In addition, two conservators of publicly owned castles were also selected, to generate a broader perspective and the possibility for comparison. Koen De Vlieger-De Wilde of the d’Ursel castle (owned by the province of Antwerp) and Paul de Pessemier ‘s Gravendries of the castle of Laarne (owned by Historische woonsteden en tuinen) offered their cooperation.
Based on the results of the interviews, the thesis is structured according to the most pressing issues regarding the legislation, as indicated by the respondents. Concretely: cultural goods, the management plan, fiscal benefits and premiums, and relationship with the government are analysed in seperate chapters. Next to this, the first chapter offers an introduction to the heritage decree and protection procedure, and in the final chapter a comparison with Dutch and English policies is made.
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styles, periods, scales and quality, often including a park and other surrounding buildings. From a historical point of view, a castle was never a construction to merely live in. The castle itself formed the heart of the estate of a noble family, but it could not function without the income provided by the extensive farm and woodlands surrounding it. Such estates played a crucial part in the life of the local community, since they generated job opportunities, whereas the owner of the castle often dominated village politics.
The great wars and social and economic reforms of the twentieth century tackled the means of existence of many domains, while inheritance issues teared the estates in even smaller pieces. Today, due to these tendencies, many historic domains have disappeared or changed owner and function. This is an important challenge for a highly valuable part of our heritage. In this regard, the research will focus on this group of traditional castle owners: noble families who have been living on these estates for generations.
In Flanders, the immovable heritage legislation has been changed recently with the introduction of the “onroerenderfgoeddecreet” and the “onroerenderfgoedbesluit” in 2015. Since this recent implementation, it is the scope of this thesis to investigate the implications of the new legislation for private heritage owners, focusing on the specific group of noble castle owners.
Since the scientific literature is limited and there is a lack of qualitative research concerning present day nobility in Flanders, the decision was made to conduct interviews with noble castle owners to generate original source material. Four noblemen were selected to be interviewed: prince Simon de Merode of the castle of Westerlo, count Ghislain d’Ursel of the castle of Hex, baron Baudouin della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Leeuwergem, and baron Bernard della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Lozer. In addition, two conservators of publicly owned castles were also selected, to generate a broader perspective and the possibility for comparison. Koen De Vlieger-De Wilde of the d’Ursel castle (owned by the province of Antwerp) and Paul de Pessemier ‘s Gravendries of the castle of Laarne (owned by Historische
woonsteden en tuinen) offered their cooperation.
Based on the results of the interviews, the thesis is structured according to the most pressing issues regarding the legislation, as indicated by the respondents. Concretely: cultural goods, the management plan, fiscal benefits and premiums, and relationship with the government are analysed in seperate chapters. Next to this, the first chapter offers an introduction to the heritage decree and protection procedure, and in the final chapter a comparison with Dutch and English policies is made.
styles, periods, scales and quality, often including a park and other surrounding buildings. From a historical point of view, a castle was never a construction to merely live in. The castle itself formed the heart of the estate of a noble family, but it could not function without the income provided by the extensive farm and woodlands surrounding it. Such estates played a crucial part in the life of the local community, since they generated job opportunities, whereas the owner of the castle often dominated village politics.
The great wars and social and economic reforms of the twentieth century tackled the means of existence of many domains, while inheritance issues teared the estates in even smaller pieces. Today, due to these tendencies, many historic domains have disappeared or changed owner and function. This is an important challenge for a highly valuable part of our heritage. In this regard, the research will focus on this group of traditional castle owners: noble families who have been living on these estates for generations.
In Flanders, the immovable heritage legislation has been changed recently with the introduction of the “onroerenderfgoeddecreet” and the “onroerenderfgoedbesluit” in 2015. Since this recent implementation, it is the scope of this thesis to investigate the implications of the new legislation for private heritage owners, focusing on the specific group of noble castle owners.
Since the scientific literature is limited and there is a lack of qualitative research concerning present day nobility in Flanders, the decision was made to conduct interviews with noble castle owners to generate original source material. Four noblemen were selected to be interviewed: prince Simon de Merode of the castle of Westerlo, count Ghislain d’Ursel of the castle of Hex, baron Baudouin della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Leeuwergem, and baron Bernard della Faille d’Huysse of the castle of Lozer. In addition, two conservators of publicly owned castles were also selected, to generate a broader perspective and the possibility for comparison. Koen De Vlieger-De Wilde of the d’Ursel castle (owned by the province of Antwerp) and Paul de Pessemier ‘s Gravendries of the castle of Laarne (owned by Historische
woonsteden en tuinen) offered their cooperation.
Based on the results of the interviews, the thesis is structured according to the most pressing issues regarding the legislation, as indicated by the respondents. Concretely: cultural goods, the management plan, fiscal benefits and premiums, and relationship with the government are analysed in seperate chapters. Next to this, the first chapter offers an introduction to the heritage decree and protection procedure, and in the final chapter a comparison with Dutch and English policies is made.