Kasteel Sterkenburg
Today I cycled over 40 kilometres with my dad, from my parents’ new house to Wijk bij Duurstede and back. On the way we passed by multiple castles. I photographed those that still had authentic medieval touches.
First up was the castle Sterkenburg (’strong fort’), rather arbitrarily named. It was intensively renovated in the 18th and 19th century, but the tower still betrays its medieval origin. The first castle on this spot was created in the late 12th century. It is still inhabited today and not open to the public. I photographed it from across a stream.
Kasteel Lunenburg
After that, only a few hundred metres down the road, we passed by the Lunenburg, probably constructed in the late 14th century and still authentic looking. The castle was badly damaged on one side during WWII – I think that must have been on the other side, as you can spot a lot of different masonry work here (including filling up some windows). The castle wasn’t ‘updated’ because the family decided to build a brand new mansion right beside it in the 19th century. Like the previous castle, it is still private property and can only be seen from the road. This time not only running water, but many trees as well hindered observation. It was impossible to photograph it from any other position.
The Leuterpoort (click to reveal)
Wijk bij Duurstede was one of the favourite residences of the prince-bishops of Utrecht in the 15th century. It’s currently small in size, but it was granted city rights in the middle ages and fully walled. In the 17th century the fortifications weren’t really necessary any more – there was no bishop left and the city was far from the border. The citizens decided this was as good a reason as any to make alterations to the city gate, which is now one of the strangest (and most useless) gates I have ever seen.
Kasteel Duurstede
Obviously the prince-bishop would not waste his time inside the city. Cities stank. So in stead he lived in an extensive and expensive castle just outside the walls. It was probably built in the 13th century, for a different lord, but as you can see it was modernised later on, in the 15th century.
Kasteel Duurstede
The parts of it that remain, especially the round tower, show some apparent renaissance influence. The castle saw active service, especially during the reign of the bishop David of Burgundy (r. 1456-1496; bastard son of duke of Burgundy Philip the Good). In the 1480’s a civil war broke out and the bishop was expelled from the city. He sought refuge in the castle he had modernised, but was eventually captured anyway (the place was not sieged). Maximilian of Habsburg had to come and rescue him.
The round tower was built by David of Burgundy, and because of his family called the Burgundian tower. The square tower is the original 13th century donjon.
Tower facing the gate
Burgundian Tower
Left: this artillery opening covered the approach to the gate. The castle still boasts multiple of such strategically placed openings, revealing good military architecture skills.
Right: Detail of the magnificent Burgundian tower.
Grote kerk in Wijk bij Duurstede
Stock Pigeon at Duurstede
Not just the castle was renovated and expanded during David of Burgundy’s reign, the city itself saw improvement, too. For example, the main church (pictured on the left) was improved by David as well, in 1486. He probably required a more stately church outside of the city of Utrecht, where he wasn’t very popular.
Incidentally, the city is named after the castle which is named after a former, no longer existing, city called Dorestad. The lord who founded the castle of Duurstede in about 1270 (Zweder van Abcoude) named his castle after a long-gone but not forgotten city, which had been a major Western European trading hub before it was destroyed by the Vikings raids. The new city, originally called Wijk, started calling itself Wijk bij Duurstede (Wijk near Duurstede) later on.
