In the middle of the 14th century, the Raeren Castle was built on the grounds of an old smeltery for iron ore at the confluence of the rivers Iter and Periol. It is not known who built it, but that it was a fief of the St. Mary monastery in Aachen. The first owner of the castle whose name is known is Johan van den Roideren (+ 1426). His name was found in the parish Walhorn alongside the former name of the castle “zen Roideren”. At the time, the castle was composed of a two-storey keep, a so-called “Donjon” with an almost quadratic layout. Across the forecourt, one could reach the kitchen rooms. The farm buildings stood on the same spot as today, whereas the entrance to the was at the north-east. The whole estate was surrounded by two castle ditches and several ponds.
Towards the end of the 16th century, the kitchen rooms were destroyed by a fire. In 1583, Philipp de Lomont, who was then the owner of the castle, expanded the building to double its size. He filled a part of the ditch with rubble from the neighbouring pottery districts. On top of this, he built an annex on the spot of the former kitchen rooms. The date of this reconstruction is carved into the top of the entrance door and into a stone of the enclosing wall of the castle ditch.
In the 18th century, the castle had fallen into a state of dilapidation. Its owner, the advocate Peter Joseph de Nys rebuilt it in a romantic style. He built a causeway to allow the entrance from the Burgstraße (which is still used today) and a coach house. The entrance portal shows the emblems of de Nys – von der Gracht. He also built the gothic pointed windows and the balcony of the first storey and increased the height of the North-West tower to its final height. This way, every storey obtained a round tower room.
Nowadays, the castle houses the pottery museum.
