The mail-in auction for Birtrange Castle will officially come to an end on late Friday afternoon.
It thus still remains to be seen, who will succeed Croix-Rouge as the landlord of the private property, which spans over 85 hectares.
In any case, the state has already made it clear that it is not interested in taking over the property, which as the former property of the prestigious de Broqueville family is also protected as a cultural heritage site of national importance.
The minimal price to participate in the auction was set at €5.2 million.
In their reply to a parliamentary question by MP Fred Keup from the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (adr), Minister of Culture Sam Tanson and Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna recently explained that due to the high renovation costs and the substantial fees required to maintain the castle and its surrounding grasslands and forests, the state had no interest in purchasing the property.
The "Nordstad" municipalities (Bettendorf, Diekirch, Ettelbruck, Erpeldange-sur-Sûre, Schieren, Colmar-Berg) have confirmed that they would be interested in acquiring the castle.
The construction of Birtrange Castle goes back to the 13th Century. After 1813, the castle was owned by the family of the former Prime Minister Felix de Blochhausen before it was taken over in 1936 by the family of the former Belgian Prime Minister Charles de Broqueville.
Croix-Rouge acquired the property in 2018 by inheritance.
