Kasteel Doorwerth

OVERVIEW

Doorwerth Castle (Kasteel Doorwerth) is a medieval castle on the river Rhine near Arnhem. The first, probably wooden, castle is mentioned in 1260, when it was besieged and burned; it was rebuilt in stone. By about 1560, under Daem Schellart van Obbendorf, it had almost reached its present appearance.

HISTORY

Besieged again in 1280, the castle was enlarged through the 14th and 15th centuries; in 1402 Robert van Dorenweerd dedicated it to Reinald IV of Gelre and received it back in fief. By the end of the 18th century it was no longer lived in. Baron J. A. P. van Brakell restored it in 1837; after his death in 1844 it fell into neglect until Frederic Adolph Hoefer bought it in 1910 and restored it again, after which it housed the Dutch Artillery Museum. In 1944 it suffered heavily from German destruction and Allied shelling; restoration lasted until 1983. Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema wrote Soldier of Orange in its restaurant in 1969–1970.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

In 2004 the castle was investigated for the ghosts allegedly haunting it by the British paranormal television programme Most Haunted, and the Dutch article on haunted houses counts it among the well-known 'spookkastelen'. Filed UNVETTED: the sources say only that the castle is allegedly haunted; they name no ghost and record no account.

VISITING

The castle is maintained as a museum by the Friends of the Castles of Gelderland foundation.