CHÂTEAU DE SENEFFE ESTATE

The Château de Seneffe estate comprises the neo-classical château itself and a 22-hectare park. The building, erected between 1763 and 1768, is one of the major works of Laurent-Benoît Dewez, a very fashionable architect at the time, who was the official builder of the Austrian Netherlands. The French-style park no longer boasts its original features of yesteryear, such as its vegetable garden, rose garden and ponds. It has, however, regained some of its original features, notably the layout of its paths. The pond has also been restored to its original appearance, including water lilies and a small bridge to the Romantic Island. Against one of the outer walls grows an astonishing collection of espaliered pear trees, some of which are rare varieties. Finally, part of the park is home to a few sheep, horses or llamas in a cheerful mess of meadows that contrast with the tidy appearance of the spaces surrounding the château.

The building, now converted into the Musée de l'Orfèvrerie, can be explored through a series of bourgeois rooms. More than 500 objects are on display amidst period furniture, including fly boxes, snuff boxes, chocolate boxes, drinking bowls, candlesticks and two tureens classified as treasures. Finally, the gilded entrance gate and paved courtyard are reminiscent, in all modesty, of the entrance to the Château de Versailles. The comparison stops there, of course. The château regularly hosts events and temporary exhibitions.