Palace of Margaret of Austria - Mechelen

Margaret of Austria was governess of the Habsburg Netherlands between 1507 and 1530. Her home is the Hof van Savoye, the first Renaissance building in the Netherlands.

From here the Renaissance spreads. Enjoy the beautiful Renaissance facade and the charming garden.

The house in the Korte Maagdenstraat intended for her by Margareta van York turned out to be too small , so the magistrate bought several neighboring plots of land from the knight Lauwerijn for the construction of a new palace.

Even as a young woman, Margareta had an eventful married life.

She has been married three times. The French Crown Prince sends her back when she is eleven to find a better match. The Spanish heir to the throne dies a few months after the wedding. And Philibert of Savoy , her great love, dies after three years of happy marriage. Margareta, twenty-four years old, disguised herself as a widow and refused to remarry.

The former Palace of Margaret of Austria or Court of Savoy is now the Court of First Instance.

Willem Vandenameele