

Château De La Forêt ChâteauMoulbaix 2015












































It's 2015 and I finally make it overseas to visit some abandoned places having concentrated on the Uk until then. This amazing château was the first location on our map and was an amazing introduction to what Belgium - and wider Europe - has to offer.
It was mid August, the sun was beating down and our group of explorers parked up quite a distance from the château and headed on foot through the forest with excitement growing with each step bringing us closer to this magnificent piece of architectural history.
Once we made it through the forest and out into the clearing, we were met with the sight of something quite remarkable; Château De La Forêt or Castle Moulbaix as it is officially named with its four corner turrets reaching into the deep blue sky encasing the narrower interior turrets. If there was ever a fairytale castle - we were now stood in front of it!
Inside the château, one is greeted by the magnificent marble staircase - a noble ascent to a thousand lost rooms. There are so many rooms in this château it was difficult to know where to start photographing. Huge rooms led to smaller rooms which in turn led to even smaller rooms. All had their own vast collection of artefacts left behind adding to the museum like feel to each of the rooms.
Old fashioned toys and personal items competed for attention with peeling wallpaper and cobweb-covered windows adding to the photogenic nature of this fantastic building. Some rooms had not stood the test of time too well, as plaster had fallen from ornate ceilings covering the floors and furniture with debris and a thick layer of dust. Conversely, other rooms were remarkably well preserved, with beds complete with bedding as if a maid had just completed her morning rounds.
It must be said, wandering around those lavish rooms - if only for a brief time - was like walking amongst the ghosts of lost gentry snd seeing at close quarters the trappings of power and wealth, amassed over successive generations of aristocratic living.
This was followed by a final descent of the marble staircase, through a sea of marble within a castle of rich history. We made our way out to the grounds and towards the forest once more, knowing it would take something extraordinary to even compare with what we had just seen when it comes to abandoned buildings.


The history of Caslte Moulbaix
The castle was originally built in 1502. In 1860 - following fire damage - architect Athois Desire Limburgh designed the current building under the order of the Marquee of Chasteler Oswald. Limburgh designed it in a neo-Medieval English tudor revival style, rectangular with four corner towers, reinforced with four octagonal turrets on top of the towers.
The last residents were husband and wife Aymard, Count of Ursel and the exotically named Nadine Françoise Jeanne Thérèse Marie Ghialaine de Spoelberch, who passed away in 2007 - aged 84 years, outliving her husband by two years. It is thought the castle was vacant for over twenty years, although the exact number is unclear.
The castle was then passed on to their six children who, according to local folklore, could not decide what to do with it, and the castle fell into disrepair while its fate was being decided. A fairytale castle began to deteriorate as time stood still inside the walls.
In autumn 2020, the castle was being restored to accommodate a banquet hall and guest rooms although more up to date information is hard to find as of 2024.