History

Kasteel Groot Buggenum is an integrated artwork on historic ground, located between Roermond and Weert. Within the moat and on the foundations of a castle from the 14th century, the hunting lodge was built in 1889 by a resident of Grathem who had made fortune elsewhere. At the end of the Second World War, the castle suffered great damage and remained battered waiting for his rescuer: Prof.Dr.Helmut Hentrich, a renowned architect and art collector from Düsseldorf. He acquired the ruin in 1971 to make it an out-of-residence for the period after his retirement.

Interview of Jan Pieter Glerum with Prof.Dr.Helmut Hentrich.
The video below is part of the Dell ‘Arte art program that was broadcast by Net5 in 1999.
Professor Hentrich was 93 years old at the time of this interview.

Restoration
It became a restoration of special allure; not a return to the former situation, but the creation of a new whole. With building elements from former times and from their own or surrounding countries, Professor Hentrich created a European ensemble that is richer and more surprising than Groot Buggenum ever was. No sober, twisted staircase with individual bars but a stately entrance from landing to landing with a handrail of powerful carvings from a southern German castle. Instead of bare walls, walls with tiles from Delft, Makkum or Portugal and fireplace surrounds of typical Limburg yellow copper. A French paneling and floors of Flemish tiles or Italian marble that for centuries has decorated Schloss Harff near Cologne until it was blown up for the purpose of brown coal mining.