Urbex – Château du Cygne

Abandoned castle somewhere in Belgium. This is a very old castle with a very long history that has seen many changes, and it’s not the first time it’s been left abandoned.

I won’t tell all the story of this castle as I’m not an historian, but I can tell that it’s construction dates back from the 11th century, though this is not its actual style. It’s been destroyed several times, and its actual style dates from the 18th century. This is a very beautiful castle, at least from the outside, and from the distance it’s hard to tell if it’s abandoned or not. It was quite sad to see the inside of it. Sad because it’s not the natural decay that is responsible for the destruction of the inside of the castle, but humans. The castle was already abandoned for some years when someone bought it. The person that bought the castle had already bought another one and restored it to make an hotel out of it. It seems he had the same ambitions for this castle, and restoration was on its way. Unfortunately, this persons is now sued in justice for tax fraud, and the restoration works has now stopped for a long time. The place surely was magnificent in its time, but now, the workers have destroyed most of it: walls have been gutted to pass electric cables, new walls have been built but remains unfinished, the wooden floors have disappeared and are now just plain concrete… I had the feeling that I came too late to see this place, though I was happy to explore it. Better luck next time I guess !