Baesweiler

Baesweiler Castle had many owners over the centuries. In the 14th century, it was granted several times as a fiefdom of Jülich. For a long time, it was owned by the Lords of Randerath. In the years before 1568, it was rebuilt and further expanded by Baron Franz Carl von Nesselrode in 1714. This united two estates, the Nesselroder Hof, which had emerged from the old Bongarts Hof and was located on the “Breite Straße” road, as well as Baesweiler Castle.

The castle complex was probably founded as early as the 12th century: documents from the Annales Rodenses, a medieval chronicle of the Rolduc monastery in Kerkrade, mention a chapel from this period that is described as the private church of Baesweiler Castle.

The layout of the four-winged castle suggests that it belonged to the lower landed gentry: instead of dividing it into a front and main castle, the residential and farm areas were combined in a single complex.

Between 2003 and 2006, the old estate was converted into Baesweiler Castle Cultural Centre with funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Federal Republic of Germany. Since then, it has housed the municipal library, among other things, and the old barn is used for cultural events of all kinds.