Langwaden Castle

The origins of Langwaden Castle date back to 1145, when it was founded as a Premonstratensian convent at the request of Count Christian von Wevelinghoven. As a fief of the Archdiocese of Cologne, it was under the protection of the Archbishop of Cologne and was first documented in 1173 by Philipp I von Heinsberg. In 1693, a new construction of the church and monastery in Baroque style was carried out under the provosts Jakob II Tillmanns and Ignaz von Witte. The secularization under Napoleon led to the dissolution of the monastery in 1802 and its sale in 1805 to the French diplomat Nicolas-Joseph Maison. In 1830, Maison had the monastery chapel demolished and the three monastery wings converted into a castle complex.