Chateau Petite Somme-Durbuy

The oldest mention of a castle in Petite-Somme dates back to the 11th century , when it was owned by Gozélon de Montaigu.

However, the present building dates much later. Albert-Joseph de Favereau had the Hamal family castle demolished and built a brick residence on the foundations. In the last quarter of the 19th century this house was again demolished by the then owners together with the 13th century tower that had survived until then .

Today's neo-Gothic palace was built in 1888. One of the outbuildings - the only one that remains of the older construction - bears the coats of arms of the Hamal and Grane families. During the First World War, a field hospital was set up in the castle and when the Germans set fire to several houses in the village, the affected residents also found refuge there.

During the Rundstedts offensive in World War II , American troops occupied the Petite-Somme castle.

In 1949, under the leadership of the mayors Jean Andrieu van Herstal and Denis Deghaye van Oupeye, an association was founded with the aim of running a holiday school, a school for the mentally handicapped , a youth hostel, a campsite and a hotel-restaurant in the castle. The activities of this association ended in the 1970s when the organizers went bankrupt .

In the 1980s, the now vacant and abandoned castle was purchased by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness , who embarked on a major restoration campaign.

Author: Willem Vandenameele