Coloma Castle, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium

Coloma castle was built around 1515. It is a square building with square corner towers and a pear-shaped roof and surrounded by a moat. The castle has been completely restored and serves as a municipal cultural center. In the castle park are some interesting buildings such as the former carriage house of 1731 (now a cozy tavern) and a garden pavilion with stair tower. The Rose Garden of Coloma is the largest in Europe. The garden has an area of 15 hectares.

Castles and fortifications in Belgium

User Reviews

Ulysse Doucet (2 years ago)
Fabulous rose garden, perfectly maintained and the beautiful castle of the seventeenth century in the middle of a body of a pound: beautiful. Parking is free (this is rare). The restaurant offers a quality service. Very interesting destination near Brussels.

naima barahman (2 years ago)
Friendly and very helpful staff

André Overputte (2 years ago)
Beautiful flower gardens. Nice to visit when weather OK.

Joseph Dimailig (2 years ago)
I love the vast varieties of roses. A nice walk seeing roses in full bloom. The best time is mid to end of May.

Jed Nguyen (2 years ago)
The castle is nothing special but the nature around the castle and the rose garden make it great. Never in my life to see so many roses like this. As the best keep secret place in Belgium, you can enjoy peaceful day without annoying from tourists.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Makser

Historic Site of the week

Derbent Fortress

Derbent is the southernmost city in Russia, occupying the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains connecting the Eurasian steppes to the north and the Iranian Plateau to the south. Derbent claims to be the oldest city in Russia with historical documentation dating to the 8th century BCE. Due to its strategic location, over the course of history, the city changed ownership many times, particularly among the Persian, Arab, Mongol, Timurid, Shirvan and Iranian kingdoms.

Derbent has archaeological structures over 5,000 years old. As a result of this geographic peculiarity, the city developed between two walls, stretching from the mountains to the sea. These fortifications were continuously employed for a millennium and a half, longer than any other extant fortress in the world.

A traditionally and historically Iranian city, the first intensive settlement in the Derbent area dates from the 8th century BC. The site was intermittently controlled by the Persian monarchs, starting from the 6th century BC. Until the 4th century AD, it was part of Caucasian Albania which was a satrap of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. In the 5th century Derbent functioned as a border fortress and the seat of Sassanid Persians. Because of its strategic position on the northern branch of the Silk Route, the fortress was contested by the Khazars in the course of the Khazar-Arab Wars. In 654, Derbent was captured by the Arabs.

The Sassanid fortress does not exist any more, as the famous Derbent fortress as it stands today was built from the 12th century onward. Derbent became a strong military outpost and harbour of the Sassanid empire. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Derbent also became an important center for spreading the Christian faith in the Caucasus.

The site continued to be of great strategic importance until the 19th century. Today the fortifications consist of two parallel defence walls and Naryn-Kala Citadel. The walls are 3.6km long, stretching from the sea up to the mountains. They were built from stone and had 73 defence towers. 9 out of the 14 original gates remain.

In Naryn-Kala Citadel most of the old buildings, including a palace and a church, are now in ruins. It also holds baths and one of the oldest mosques in the former USSR.

In 2003, UNESCO included the old part of Derbent with traditional buildings in the World Heritage List.

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