Beuys and Bedburg-Hau
A moated castle on the Lower Rhine
The castle has an impressive appearance even from the outside, with four towers rising up at its corners, reflected in the wide moat enchantingly lined with water lilies. A bridge takes visitors into the four-wing main castle. Schloss Moyland has seen multiple conversions over the centuries, with the 19th-century change towards the Gothic Revival style as a particularly essential one. The castle numbers among the most important Gothic Revival buildings in North Rhine-Westphalia today. It is one of the most popular destinations on the Lower Rhine and a very special stop for cyclists interested in Joseph Beuys and taking a break, as the artist plays a special role in the castle’s museum.
Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland / Axel Jusseit
The world’s largest collection
Works on paper and small objects
At nearly 6000 works, the artistic oeuvre of Joseph Beuys forms the core area of the museum for modern and contemporary art, putting Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland in possession of the world’s largest collection of Beuys’ works, from drawings and watercolour paintings, to oil paintings and sculptures. It started out with the former private collection of brothers Hans and Franz Joseph van der Grinten, close friends of Joseph Beuys’ who started collecting his works early on.
Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland / Maurice Dorren
Around the castle
Historical gardens, sculpture park, and herb garden
If you take the time to stroll around the castle, you will discover some baroque elements such as avenue and moat systems in the historical gardens. On top of this, more than 530 different varieties of hydrangea have been planted here. A sculpture park established in 1997 presents works by Eduardo Chillida, James Lee Byars, Erwin Heerich, Gerhard Marcks, and other artists.
One of the largest and most attractive herb gardens in the region is located on the grounds of Schloss Moyland as well, growing kitchen herbs, medicinal and poisonous plants. The annual herb garden festival teaches visitors about the use and effects of herbs and gives them the opportunity to buy some for their own gardens.
Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland / Axel Jusseit
Garden parties and Christmas market
Magical events
Various events are hosted around the moated castle year-round. The Herb Garden Party, for example, gives visitors the opportunity of browsing a plant market’s stands for organically produced herbs and vegetables, or discovering more than 350 domestic and foreign herbs in the herb garden. The hydrangea festival puts the hydrangea at the focus. After all, that plant is growing all around the castle, exhibiting its full splendour of form and colour. The Moyland Christmas Market is particularly magical, offering romantic Christmas lighting, sweet treats, and an artisans’ market to put visitors into a pre-Christmas mood.
Touristik-Information Kalkar
A brief trip into the surroundings
Impressive brick buildings
Not far from Schloss Moyland, the tranquil market square of the small town of Kalkar with its impressive historical town hall is just perfect for a brief break or a coffee in between in one of the numerous cafés situated in pretty gabled houses. A little farther up the Rhine, the old town of Xanten is worth stopping by. In addition to comfortable restaurants, cafés, and small, individual stores, it offers some relics from the Roman days as well as unspoiled nature. The wetland landscape along the Lower Rhine here is characterised by the course of the Rhine that shaped the landscape over the centuries and gives a home to rare animals and plants.
Off to Bedburg-Hau
Discover special Beuys places by bike
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