Château Charles



The Château Charles was a neoclassical palace in Tervuren, Belgium. It was intended as summer retreat for Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, governor of the Austrian Netherlands. However, it was soon demolished and nothing remains.

History
Tervuren was one of the main summer retreats of the dukes of Brabant and their successors, the Burgundian dukes and the governors of the Habsburg Netherlands. They primarily used the castle in Tervuren as a basis to hunt in the surrounding Sonian Forest. Although the castle was medieval in origin, it was modernized and redesigned over time up to the 18th century. But as the moated palace became too damp, governor Charles of Lorraine decided to construct a new palace, the Château Charles. He commissioned Laurent-Benoît Dewez to design the new summer lodge. When Dewez fell out of favour, Louis Montoyer and Antoine Payen the Elder completed the palace.

Construction started in 1778. The main building was already completed in 1779, and furnishing followed soon. With large festivities, the palace was put into use on 1 September 1779. It was barely finished when Charles of Lorraine died in 1780. His nephew, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor first intended to sell the country house, but ultimately he made decision to demolish Château Charles as well as the Tervuren castle to recycle its building materials to pay for the debts Charles of Lorraine had left. Charles successors as governors, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria and her husband Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen commissioned a new palace in Laeken, which was constructed between 1782 and 1784.

Nowadays, nothing remains anymore of the Château Charles. The plans made by Dewez can be found back in the National Archives of Belgium. In addition, the National Archives of France have a plan and drawings of how the palace looked like. Olivier Le May made two gouaches of the château, which are now in a private collection.