Castle of the Counts

The Castle of the Counts is a stone fortress defined by its high, oval-shaped curtain wall, twenty-four watchtowers, and a moat fed by the River Lys. Built in eleven eighty by Count Philip of Alsace, it served as a protective citadel for the Counts of Flanders. Philip had participated in the Crusades, and he modeled the design of this fortress after the military architecture he encountered in the East to project his influence over the city's prosperous and often rebellious burghers.