Disaster struck the castle in the night of the 14th of March 1939. The castle burned down almost completely. Fortunately though, the greater part of the art collection could be saved. Staff, aided by the people of ‘s-Heerenberg as well as Van Heek’s relatives, speeding all the way from Enschede to the castle, were just in time to help carry the art objects from the castle to safety. But the objects that were too heavy to carry or could not be removed quickly enough or could not be reached in time, these were all lost. At the time of the fire, Jan Herman van Heek was on holiday in Lugano, Switzerland with his wife and daughter Anneke. Having been informed of the fire, he telegraphed immediately: castle shall be restored. And it was. Van Heek made use of the occasion to bring the castle back to its former medieval glory. He had the white plaster removed from the walls to lay bare the original brickwork, some of the ramparts were restored back and a number of windows in the façade got back their original medieval cross shapes. The interior too, became more medieval in character. The floors in the hall were covered with beautiful old tiles and the parquet flooring destroyed by the fire came to be replaced by broad oak floorboards. A sturdy oak staircase was installed as well as medieval-style oak doors with metal fittings.
For more information on the great fire of 1939, press A For more information on Van Heek’s various passions, press B