Slot Moermond (Castle)

Moermond Castle (nl.: Slot Moermond, pronounced: Murmond) is a moated castle in the Dutch town of Renesse, which is currently used commercially.

As early as 1229, Costijn van Zierikzee built a castle complex on the site of the present castle. The oval moated castle had a circumference of almost sixty meters and five towers. The walls were over one and a half meters thick, and those of the gates were almost two meters thick. The castle, where Count Willem II of Holland stayed in 1244, was then besieged for months by Wolfart I of Borsselen in 1297 and finally destroyed.

In the first half of the 14th century, a new castle began to be built with the stones of the first complex. The second Moermond Castle was built relatively small. The demise of this complex is unknown. Around 1500, only a ruin is likely to have existed, the foundations of which were excavated in 1956 and can be seen today.

The third castle, which still stands today, was built in 1513. In 1613, the owner inscribed "Virtus post fata virescit" above the entrance portal. The complex, whose inhabitants changed over time - among others, the von Cromstrien and the von Stavenisse once ruled over the castle and land - was not severely attacked again until the storm surge disaster of 1953. After being restored again, the building, which now belongs to a private foundation, serves as a venue for conferences and is not accessible to the public except for one room. The land belonging to the castle is a marshy (moer) area, now largely left to nature, which is also not accessible to the public.