Château d'Antoing — the baron in the mirror

OVERVIEW

The Château d'Antoing stands on the right bank of the Scheldt in the town of Antoing, 6 km south of Tournai. Its origins go back to the 12th century; it was entirely rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in the 19th century and has for generations been a residence of the princes of Ligne. It has been listed Walloon heritage since 1949.

HISTORY

A motte appears at Antoing in the 10th century; in the 12th century its wooden palisade was replaced by a stone enclosure with a strong keep, rebuilt in 1436–1452 as a comfortable residence and fortified for artillery. The line of the Antoing lords ended in 1353; the castle passed to the house of Melun and in 1634 to the Lignes, who still own it. Clément Parent, a pupil of Viollet-le-Duc, gave it its neo-Gothic look in the 19th century. From 1901 it housed French Jesuits and their students exiled by the French laws of 1901 and 1904 — Charles de Gaulle studied there from 1905 to 1908 — and in 1914 it became a German hospital. It was the main setting of Jean Brismée's film La Plus Longue Nuit du diable (1971).

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Like many castles, the article says, Antoing has its revenant. Long ago — no one knows when — the fortress was taken and utterly destroyed, and the baron of Antoing, whose name has not come down to us, died in its smoking ruins; his shadow then haunted the rebuilt castle. To see him, the legend says, you must climb the great tower at the stroke of midnight. On the second floor is a small room with a mirror — a real one — and in it appears the shadow of a knight armed from head to foot, who after a few moments flees down the stairs, moaning: the endless lament of the old baron's ghost.

VISITING

The castle can be visited only on tours organised by the town of Antoing.