Blue Tower (Gorinchem)

The Blue Tower (Dutch: Kasteel de Blauwe Toren) was a castle with an imposing stone keep in Gorinchem, the Netherlands.

The complex, which stood there between 1461 and 1578, gained an almost mythical status thanks in part to descriptions by the Gorinchem chronicler Abraham Kemp and the discovery of its foundations in 1983.

It was located at the southwestern side of the city center, at the level of the current Tolsteeg, Duivelsgracht, and Buiten de Waterpoort by the Merwede river.

It was built on the Merwede as part of the medieval fortress and had to withstand both sieges from the riverside and potential attacks from the city itself.

In 1440, Philip the Good paid the church of Gorinchem 17 Wilhelmusschilden and 5 Flemish groats because he and his predecessors, Willem V of Holland and Jacoba of Bavaria, had expropriated houses and estates.

The area of the complex probably covered a significant part of the land that later served as the outer bailey of the Blue Tower.

On the orders of Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, construction of the distinctive roof with stepped gables began in 1522.

[10] The Dutch historian Ruud Meischke describes the construction of the towers as a pinnacle of late medieval fortification and foundation techniques.

Jacob van der Ulft used their square tower as a key element in his own drawing, which he mainly based on the descriptions of Abraham Kemp, while also allowing his imagination to run free.

To preserve the existing castle foundations, ground borings and a test trench were dug first, after which the path of the wall was adjusted.