Biljoen castle

Biljoen castle, Velp, Gelderland, The Netherlands. Castle Biljoen lies between the Veluwe and the IJssel near Velp. This Noble House from the 16th century was rebuilt by Alexander van Spaen (1619–1692) into the present day castle with four equal corner towers.

History

The castle almost certainly originated as a large farm that was first mentioned in 1076. Only in 1530 did Charles, Duke of Guelders built a castle out of it. The towers also date from this time. From the rest of the building it has not been confirmed what is original and what is not. The family Van Spaen rebuilt the castle around the 18th century into its current state.

In 1795 French troops were quartered in the castle. After they left the castle was plundered and the interior largely destroyed. The damage was restored with amongst others ornamental plaster and ceiling paintings.

Ownership

The estate was originally called Broekerhof, and was a place where taxes were collected. In 1076 it was donated by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor to the Sint-Pieter Chapter in Utrecht. In 1530 it was sold to Charles, Duke of Guelders. He in turn had to sell it again in 1535 because of debts. It came into possession of Charles' general Roelof van Lennep. Roelof's son Carl, mayor of Arnhem, inherited it in 1546. His son Roelof inherited it in turn in 1567. After family divisions it was sold to the baronial family Van Spaen in 1661. In 1849 baron Van Hardenbroek allowed Anna Pavlovna of Russia to use it temporarily. In 1872 it was inherited by the family Lüps, until 2008.

On July 25, 2008 part of the inventory of the castle was sold at Christie's in Amsterdam. Kasteel Biljoen is located between the Veluwe and the IJssel near Velp in the municipality of Rheden, in the Dutch province of Gelderland. This cultural-historical Noble House from the 16th century was built by Karel van Gelre, duke of Guelders and count of Zutphen around 1530, partly with building materials from the nearby castle Overhagen on the estate Broekerhof (or Broeckerhoeve), which was given over to Emperor Hendrik IV in 1076. the chapter of St. Peter in Utrecht had been donated.

Particularities

Inhabitants and architectural history

On 1 June 1535, the duke of Guelders sold the castle with the accompanying seigneurial rights to his seneschal and intendant Roelof van Lennep (1485-1546), drossaard van Middelaer, out of financial distress. He left it to his son Carl van Lennep (1530-1567), mayor and alderman of Arnhem, to his grandson Roelof and to his great-grandson Johan. In 1633 Cunera van Lennep tot Billion (1600-1657), initially married to her cousin Willem van Lennep, inherited the castle grounds to Willem van Broeckhuysen van Barlham. At the death of Cunera in 1657 her daughter Johanna van Lennep became the new owner, but four years later she died childless and Billion, after having been in the possession of the family van Lennep for 126 years, was sold in 1661 to Alexander van Spaen (1619-1692).

This turned out to be a builder of stature. He converted the central part into the current quadrangular building with four equal corner towers, each of which was fitted with baroque bell-shaped helmets. At the entrance, the gate tower was demolished and replaced by a projecting center section with tympanum. Alexander also managed to enlarge the castle domain with the addition in 1682 of Groot Beekhuizen. But in 1672, King Louis XIV of France temporarily established his headquarters at Billion, which, unlike many other castles, made it impossible for the French army commanded by Marshal General Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (Turenne) was burned down. After all, this commander was also duke of Bullionium, the Ardennes Bouillon. No doubt the castle was then spared because of its original name.

In 1692 Alexander Bernhard van Spaen became the new owner, and in 1696 he transferred the castle domain to his brother Frederik Willem, who, after the forced sale of Till and Moyland, also came to live on Billion. Once again the domain was expanded with Overhagen, Nederhagen and Rosande.

The next owner of Billion was Alexander Diederik van Spaen, mayor of Wageningen. But it was his son Johan Frederik Willem (1746-1827) who managed to give the castle domain Billion its international allure, by radically changing both the interior of the castle and the garden and park layout of Billion and Beekhuizen. But when his son Alexander Jacob van Spaen died in 1848, this marked the end, after 187 years, of the Biljoen family estate.

In 1848, Johan Frederik Willem Carel baron van Hardenbroek, lord of Biljoen (1807-1871), chamberlain of King Willem III of the Netherlands, bought the castle and temporarily made it available to Anna Paulowna, the widow of King Willem II. But 19 years later he sold most of Billion to a German industrialist JH Willem Lüps, who also bought the castle in 1872, so that the whole is ultimately preserved. For four generations, the castle domain remained the property of the Lüps family, who managed to preserve it well for 139 years, until the last male heir, Johan Hendrik Willem Lüps (1930-2006), married to painter Fr. Albertine Marie Isabelle Jeanne de Blocq van Scheltinga (1928-2006), died in 2006.

In 2008, with the support of the Province of Gelderland and contributions from, among others, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the 162-hectare cultural heritage was acquired in its entirety by the foundation Het Geldersch Landschap and Geldersche Kasteelen, so that it could be restored to its former glory and preserved for the benefit of the community. The house and the surrounding area are, in accordance with the wishes of the last owner, now privately inhabited again and usually not accessible.

Interior of the castle

Six wide arched steps in blue limestone lead to the monumental entrance in Neo-Renaissance style under a balcony, designed by the Arnhem architect Lucas Hermanus Eberson (1822-1889). The double entrance doors feature two bronze lion heads with door knockers, four coats of arms and two crowns in the tympanum. The white entrance hall with a quadruple Cornucopia (Horn of Plenty) on the ceiling, the walls lined with festoons, wreaths and garlands, the honed dark blue stone floor, but especially the high niche with a life-size marble statue of a nymphgive visitors an overwhelming impression. At the back right, fourteen wide oak steps lead to a landing overlooking the pond and park. The white ceiling of the spacious stairwell, which gives access to the Grand (Italian) Ballroom on the first floor, is also richly decorated with stucco.

The most imposing room in the castle is the Grand Ballroom, a fine example of neoclassical interior design in the Low Countries. Because of this stucco room with decorations from the period 1780-1782, after engravings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the Billion Castle is renowned at home and abroad. Here one finds representations of, among others, the Pantheon, the Milvian Bridge, the Pyramid of Cestius, the Tomb of 'Caecilia Metella' near Rome and the Temple of the Sibylle in Tivoli.

Two adjoining rooms on the ground floor feature 17th-century tapestries. In the Gentlemen's Roomtwo different series of carpets with animals were merged into one. These are works from the weaving workshop in Delft by Maximiliaan van der Gucht and Amsterdam tapestries by Alexander Baert. In the adjacent Oude Eetkamer there are a series of exceptional verdures from Flanders, signed and made around 1650 by Simon Bouwens. Here too, the 1857 mantelpiece is built to a design by Eberson, again bearing the double entry "Bouillion".

Also worth mentioning are the pompous Salon Tante Thea (early 20th century), overlooking the pond with island and park behind; the old kitchen with stove and water pump; the rooms for the staff and the 'modern kitchen', perhaps the most habitable space in the castle Billion, which was installed quite recently by the last occupants.

Billion Landscape Park

Garden design from probably 1784

The landscape between Velp and Rheden is largely determined by the Kasteeldomein Biljoen with its water features, forests and farmlands. The construction extends along the Beekhuizerbeek in a NE direction far into the moraine area with its height differences. Both the Beekhuizerbeek and the Rozendaalse stream provide sufficient clear water, which can be used to fill fountains, cascades, ponds and moats. The Beekhuizerbeek feeds the ponds and canals around the castle, leaves the domain past a badger sett in an easterly direction along the highway and flows into the IJssel at Rheden. The Beekhuizen stream, which flows through Velp, is connected to the southern part of the park and to the ponds around Overhagen, goes through a culvert under the highway to a small watercourse, which eventually flows into the IJssel. In front of the castle is a moated forecourt with retaining walls and a monumental round-arch bridge, decorated with natural stone lions and bears, which bear coats of arms. At the bottom of the bridge, in memory of the stay (1849-1850) of Anna Paulowna, her coat of arms bricked into the upstanding wall. On the left side of the forecourt is a coach house with horse stables. Initially a building house, it was rebuilt to a design by Eberson after a fire in the late 18th century and took on its current form with courtyard. The right part of the building is furnished as a residence, the middle and left part contain a complete stable interior. Striking is the planting against the red brick facade along both sides of the ground floor, so that all attention is drawn to the central part of the facade, the white niche in the middle with an attractive hunting goddess and above it the facade clock from 1792.

The formal French-classical garden architecture of the Biljoen landscape park in the early 18th century is depicted on the so-called Hottinger map (1773-1783). This formal construction still forms a recognizable structure in the estate. This construction, of which some avenues have been preserved, was largely replaced by a romantic style from 1784 by the German landscape architect JG Michael (1737-1800), with respect for the existing formal structure. The canal was transformed into a meandering pond with an island, so that the whole could not be overlooked anywhere and the impression of endlessness could be created. Open spaces with round flowerbeds were planted, and curved avenues were laid out in connection with the existing avenues, creating ever-changing views for the visitor. Between 1810 and 1822, the design was further expanded by his son-in-law JD Zocher and his grandson, in order to create the landscape unity in the park. At the end of the 19th century, the driveway was planted with American oaks and extended to the road from Velp to Rheden. For the sake of completeness, the various artificial rocks, the apparent grave for Van Spaen on an island, two ice cellars, a 19th-century doghouse with beer barrels, garden vases, plinths and entrance gates can also be mentioned. The estate also includes the now-defunct castles of Nederhagen and Overhagen.

Sage

A saga about this castle originated in the 19th century. Mark Prager Lindo met Anna Nijhof at a music evening. They took a walk to the famous Chinese bridge. Inspired by the romantic surroundings, the moon and the young man's infatuation, the story of Mooi-Ann van Velp (Nederlandsche Sagen en Legenden, by Josef Cohen -1918) was born. She is said to have been married to the lord of the castle of Billion, and drowned - whether or not at the hands of her husband - in the ponds around the castle. Her ghost, according to the story, still roams the waters around the castle, where she lures young men into the water.

Literature

Biljoen Castle, inhabitants, landscape. Zwolle, 2020.

Sources, notes and/or references

Sources

Extraordinary Billion

historicgardens.nl

Pearls of the Eastern Veluwezoom, Municipality of Rheden, December 2007

Cf. Byllis

References

RCE: Historic country estate Billion

mijngelderland.nl; the saga is on belive.org. Both sources accessed on August 31, 2018. @capturedby_lauratb Ridders van Gelre