Château du Karreveld

Geschiedenis

The Castle of Karreveld is the name given to an old area of three hectares and a castle farm in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a town in Brussels. Karreveld also determines the name of a district of this municipality. This space is also a municipal public park.EtymologyThe name of Karreveld translates from Dutch words Karel Veld or "Charles field", named after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This folktale is belied by the dating of official documents that mention the "Karreveld" long before the birth of Charles Quint.Karreveld the name most likely originates from "Karreelvelt" (brick earth field), given the fact that several brickyards were still operating around the area in the early twentieth century.Carnevelt name already appears in a document dated 1253, following the deed of gift made by the Duke of Brabant, John I the Victorious to his wife Margaret, daughter of Saint Louis, King of France. The widow of Jerome Van Ghindertaelen sells the property to a Spanish nobleman Don Garcia Osorio y Borgia, in 1656. The family de Villegas acquired the property in 1780 and put it up for sale in 1930.On the route of the Great Belt boulevardsThe land was abandoned by its owners, it is also on the route of the Great Belt boulevards whose extension beyond the Koekelberg plateau is needed. :overs of heritage and green spaces ensure grain. In the meantime, the park is sometimes used as airbase for balloons, a wooden velodrome opened there during the closure of the one of Bois de la Cambre and the castle was converted into a dairy.The commune of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean became concerned about the castle's urbanization. They purchased the estate in 1930 from the family de Villegas for a sum of €400,000. It covered 16 hectares at the time. The then-mayor Machtens Edmond (1902-1978) commissioned the municipal architect Pierre De Bruyne to maintain the building to prevent from falling into ruin.