Karreveld Castle

Karreveld Castle (Château du Karreveld; Kasteel Karreveld) is a castle-farm in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium. The castle and surrounding park are used for cultural events and meetings of the municipal council. This site is served by Osseghem/Ossegem metro station on lines 2 and 6 of the Brussels Metro.

History
The estate was owned since 1780 by the Villegas family, who already owned Rivieren Castle in the nearby municipality of Ganshoren.



At the beginning of the 20th century, the castle was one of the birthplaces of Belgian Cinema. At the request of Charles Pathé (Pathé Cinéma), the director Alfred Machin commissioned the first film studio in the country, together with a workshop for the construction of film sets and a mini zoological garden for exotic animals, such as bears, camels and panthers used as 'extras' in films. Several films, including the first two Belgian feature films La Fille de Delft and the sadly prophetic Maudite soit la guerre (in hand-painted colours) were shot by Alfred Machin in the studio of Karreveld Castle.

The municipality of Molenbeek bought the castle in 1930 and used a large part of the 16 ha estate for urbanisation works (Boulevard Louis Mettewie/Louis Mettewielaan, streets and villas). The park was converted into a public park in 1952, and the buildings were almost entirely rebuilt between 1952 and 1958; they now house a cultural space and municipal services.

Festival Bruxellons!
Since 1999, the castle hosts from mid-July to September the Festival Bruxellons!, a theatre festival open to other performing arts (i.e. magic, music, circus, etc.).

The Blue Flamingo – Jazz Festival
The Blue Flamingo – Jazz Festival is a cycle of seasonal events dedicated to jazz. It has been co-produced by the municipality of Molenbeek since 2010. The concerts offered take place on Friday and Saturday evenings, three or four weekends a year.