Doddendael Castle, Ewijk, Netherlands

Doddendael Castle is a medieval castle surrounded by a moat built in the 1430s. The castle had already been in the possession of various families when the Van Stepraedt family bought it in 1489 for 4,000 gold guilders. In 1526 they sold Doddendael to Duke Charles of Gelre, who used it as a base. In that same year, people of Nijmegen went on the rampage by boat, plundering the castle and setting it on fire. In 1528 the Van Stepraedt family bought it back, in its burnt state, and started on the restoration.

In 1585 the castle was occupied by the Spanish. During the Siege of Nijmegen, Prince Maurits recaptured the castle and set it on fire again. After this fire, only the heavy base walls remained standing. Tirelessly, the Van Stepraedt family resumed the restoration.ConventicleThe Van Stepraedt family stopped using the restored castle as a main residence in the middle of the 17th century. When the practice of Roman Catholicism was banned, they made the castle vault available as a conventicle. Roman Catholics in the area secretly attended mass here. Remnants of the conventicle can still be seen.

The last extensive restoration of Slot Doddendael took place in 1977. Since then, it has been a popular and much-used backdrop for parties, dinners, weddings, meetings and conferences.

References:

Exciting History

User Reviews

Alvaro Lau (10 months ago)
We attended a wedding during Sunday. Amazing place, super cozy with this nice balance between the castle and nature. The staff was very friendly and it was well organized. Luckily the weather allowed the ceremony and dinner to be outside and the party was in the building next door. Certainly a very wonderful place to celebrate a wedding.

Marnix van Dijk (3 years ago)
Everything was complete in here. It was a nice location, great audio (even for the speaking persons), the building was beautiful and a lot of nice employees. The food was tasty, I think it had a nice touch that you could get things in several locations around the dinerroom.

Elisa Gismondi (3 years ago)
We attended a wedding here. Excellent location for this kind of events, cosy and warm feeling throughout the whole estate.

S. Harindra Fernando (4 years ago)
We attended a funeral ceremony. Spacious and quiet place. At the refreshments after the ceremony they didn't have lactose free milk. The staff is friendly.

Eligos Rau (4 years ago)
Nice location. Really beautiful. Staff is super friendly. Drinks were nice, "bittergarnituur" was nice, but "flammenkuchen" was a bit.. dry and boring. Not much flavour. Different style than they have in Germany. (Just honest feedback. We had a great time, so 4 stars!)

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Klearchos Kapoutsis

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The castle first mentioned in 1200 was originally owned by the King and later, at the end of the 13th century it fell in hands of Matúš Èák. Its owners alternated - at the end of the 14th century the family of Stibor of Stiborice bought it.

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The history of the castle is the subject of different legends.

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