Crèvecœur Castle

Ruins and historic buildings

Castle ruins on a cliff some 80 metres above the Meuse at Bouvignes – freely accessible and linked to a well-known legend of three ladies.

Interesting facts

The name Crèvecœur means "broken heart" and goes back to the legend of the three ladies.
Since at least 1778 the legend has been linked to the French siege of 1554.
The grounds belong to the Walloon Region and are freely accessible all year.

Why visit

Castle ruins on a cliff high above the Meuse
Freely accessible grounds
The legend of the three ladies

The ruins of Crèvecœur Castle stand on a cliff around 80 metres above the Meuse, above Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, part of Dinant. They belong to the Walloon Region, and the grounds can be visited freely all year round.

Around 1320 a square keep was built on a separate rock; in 1388 the master builder Godefroid de Bofiaule extended the castle, and a semicircular bastion was added in the 15th century. In 1554 troops of the French king Henry II sacked Bouvignes and Dinant, and artillery badly damaged the castle. It was dismantled in 1672, and the remains were consolidated in 1950 and 1951.

The castle owes its name – “broken heart” – to a legend: three ladies are said to have thrown themselves from the parapet after their husbands were killed during a siege.

History

Square keep around 1320, extended in 1388 by Godefroid de Bofiaule, semicircular bastion in the 15th century. Badly damaged in 1554 by the troops of Henry II, partly rebuilt as a watchtower 1567–1580, last taken by the French in 1655, dismantled in 1672, ruins consolidated 1950–1951.

Special features

Ruins on three terraces with a square keep from around 1320, two staircases to the 15th-century bastion, a well-preserved cellar and the oldest, Romanesque area on the top terrace.

Map

Start navigationor with Apple Maps · OpenStreetMap

Opens an external route planner. Please check access and opening times before you set off.

50.26750, 4.90028

Nearby

Church of Saint George, Leffe
Leffe, Wallonia
0.5 km away
13th-century church in the Leffe district of Dinant on the Meuse – with a Romanesque core and historic flood marks on its portal.
Route
Leffe Abbey
Leffe, Wallonia
0.5 km away
Premonstratensian abbey on the Meuse in Dinant-Leffe, founded in 1152 – the namesake of the well-known abbey beer and still home to a community of canons.
Route
Church of Saint Lambert, Bouvignes
Dinant, Wallonia
0.6 km away
Gothic church in the heart of Bouvignes-sur-Meuse – destroyed and rebuilt several times, with a Passion altarpiece from Antwerp.
Route
Spanish House of Bouvignes
Dinant, Wallonia
0.6 km away
Renaissance house of 1568–1578 in Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, built after the destruction of 1554 – today a museum of the medieval heritage of the Meuse region.
Route
Collegiate Church of Our Lady, Dinant
Dinant, Wallonia
1.1 km away
Gothic collegiate church on the Meuse with a distinctive onion-shaped spire against the cliff – Dinant's landmark, with one of the largest church windows in Europe.
Route
Citadel of Dinant
Dinant, Wallonia
1.1 km away
Fortress on the rock above Dinant and the River Meuse – today a museum, also reached by cable car, with views over the town and the river.
Route