Loevestein Castle

About this place

Loevestein is a medieval castle in the municipality of Zaltbommel in Gelderland, in the middle of the Netherlands, where the Maas and Waal rivers meet, just west of the villages of Poederoijen and Brakel, about 31 km south of Utrecht in a straight line. The knight Dirk Loef of Horne built it between 1357 and 1397, giving it its name, «Loef's stone house». At first it was a simple square brick house used to collect tolls from trading ships on the rivers. In the 16th century it was expanded into a larger fortress with earthen fortifications, stone bastions, two moats, an arsenal and barracks, and it was part of the Dutch Water Line defences. It is now a medieval museum. The square red-brick castle with its round, cone-roofed tower stands in the middle of the fortress, ringed by a moat crossed by a wooden drawbridge. Inside the walls old brick houses with red tiled roofs line the grounds, and green riverside pastures with grazing cows surround it. Visitors arrive by car or bike, tour the castle's halls and exhibitions and walk the earthen ramparts. It is a quiet spot between the rivers, best visited in the warmer season.