Castle Slangenburg

Slangenburg (also known as Slangenburgh) is a castle with a estate in the Dutch municipality of Doetinchem (province Gelderland), about 4 kilometers away from the city of Doetinchem. The nearly 600 ha large estate between Doetinchem and Westendorp is also home to the Sint-Willibrordsabdij of the monastic order of the Benedictines. Castle Slangenburg is listed in the Top 100 of the Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg of 1990.

Slangenburg is first mentioned in 1354 as the property of Maes (Thomas) van Baer. In 1585 it was destroyed by the States Army and could only be rebuilt during the Twelve Years' Truce. In the 17th century, the castle became the property of the field marshal Frederik Johan van Baer (1645-1713), who remodeled it to live in. In the 18th century, it came into the possession of the Steengracht family and was inherited in 1781 by the Van der Goltz family, which retained it until 1863, after which the heirs of Van der Goltz sold it in 1895.

The last private owners, the Passmann family since 1895, were Germans. After the war, all German possessions in the Netherlands were confiscated, and thus the castle and the buildings within the outer moat became the property of the Dutch state. They were managed by the Rijksgebouwendienst. In 2016, the castle and the buildings surrounding it were transferred by the government to the Monumentenbezit foundation. The castle had housed the Stichting Gastenhuis Kasteel Slangenburg since around 1970, which was declared bankrupt in 2023. Since then, the management has been done by Monumentenbezit. They open the castle to the public and the coach houses on the estate for hospitality and overnight stays.

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