Hoensbroek Castle is one of the largest castles in the Netherlands and is certainly worth a visit. Admire the majestic ‘Sael’ (Great Hall), pay a visit to the spooky dungeons, and participate in one of the many activities organised there.
Kasteel Hoensbroek now
Nowadays, Hoensbroek Castle is set up as a castle museum. During a visit, you have access to more than forty furnished rooms. This gives you a good impression of what life was like in a castle in the past.
Hoensbroek Castle is also an official wedding venue with various options for celebrating your wedding or other parties. This includes themed children's parties, where the kids – dressed up, of course – go on a treasure hunt or play medieval games. Highly recommended!
There's plenty to do for adults too. For example, you can combine a castle visit with various workshops, including archery and fencing. A great idea for a company outing. Such a castle visit can be enhanced by having costumed actors appear or by dressing yourself in medieval attire.
Throughout the year, there are special events at Hoensbroek Castle to suit the season.
Practical information
Kasteel Hoensbroek is open almost every day from 10:00 to 17:30, with the exception of 24 and 25 December, 31 December, 1 January and carnival. On 26 December (Boxing Day), the castle only opens at 12:00.
The regular admission price is €9.75 for ‘adults’ (>12 years old) and €7.25 for children aged 4 to 12 years. Children under 4 years old are admitted free of charge. Different rates apply for (school) groups. For treasure hunts and the like, you pay a surcharge on top of the normal admission price.
Kasteel Hoensbroek is located on Klinkertstraat, but the (free) car park and entrance are on Juliana Bernardlaan.
Kasteel Hoensbroek, formerly
Hoensbroek is a compound of ‘Hoen’ and ‘broek’. Hoen is the name of the noble family that founded the castle. And a broek is a marshy area along a river or stream (three streams converge near the castle). To distinguish themselves from the rest of the family, the Hoen family began to call themselves ‘Hoen zu Broeck’ or ‘Hoen van den Broeck’, which corrupted to (van) Hoensbroe(c)k.
In common parlance, the castle is also called ’t Gebrookhoes, just as the village was called Gebrook before the arrival of the Hoen family. In the local dialect, Hoensbroek is still often referred to as Gebrook. The name Gebrookhoes is actually older than the castle itself and refers to the fortified house that must have been located here around 1250.
The oldest parts of the current Hoensbroek Castle, including the round tower at the rear, date from around 1360. The other, square tower at the back dates from the major renovation of 1643. The two turrets flanking the front entrance are even younger. You can easily distinguish the different architectural styles used over the centuries.
Over the centuries, the castle has seen a variety of residents – knights, counts, imperial lords and marquises. In the last century, the castle served briefly as an orphanage. One of the last castle residents was the well-known Dutch writer and poet Bertus Aafjes, who lived and worked there for over two decades.
The Ghost of Hoensbroek
We don't want to scare you, but a real ghost is said to haunt Hoensbroek Castle. This is reportedly the spirit of the Marquise Anna Catharina, nicknamed the Blue Lady. Passers-by occasionally notice a blue light at the top of the castle's round tower. Anna Catharina died at the castle in 1760 as an unhappy widow. Two of her children, who died at a young age, are said to have been walled up in the three-metre-thick walls of the tower. A ghost story, or…?
If you're going to Hoensbroek Castle with a group, you might want to consider Minibus For hire for six or nine people at Adrem Limburg. You can hire a minibus from €39.90 per day (excluding costs for insurance and fuel, and excluding VAT).
Read more here about Day trips met Adrem.
