Discover Appeldorn

If you are looking for a hotel in Appeldorn, the local architectural and cultural heritage can help guide your choice of destination. Boetzelaer Castle, St. Lambertus, Haus Veen and the Quellsteinspirale showcase different aspects of the area. The wider destination of Kalkar adds further buildings and the Boetzelaerer Meer as attractions in their own right. This can help you decide whether you are particularly interested in castle history, church art, architecture or the region’s natural landscape.

Historic Buildings and Church Art in Appeldorn

Boetzelaer Castle is more than 760 years old. In the castle in Appeldorn, a varied programme is offered alongside castle tours in a historic setting. This gives the historic building a tangible cultural offering. Haus Veen near Appeldorn also dates back to an earlier period: its history goes back to the 16th century.

St. Lambertus also brings together different building phases. The surviving choir of the former church building has been integrated into the modern extension and remains part of the church as a whole. At the same time, St. Lambertus in Appeldorn is an open, tent-like church space. Its furnishings include an Antwerp altarpiece dating from 1530. Haus Veen and the altarpiece thus both point to the 16th century, while the church also incorporates a modern extension.

A different historical background shapes the Fatima Chapel in Kalkar-Appeldorn. The Wilmsen family had it built in 1957 in gratitude for their sons’ safe return from the Second World War. Devotions and Masses are held there on the 13th of each month from May to October. If you are interested in religious traditions, this regular schedule is a useful point of reference when planning your visit.

Art and Nature in the Wider Destination of Kalkar

The Quellsteinspirale by Anna Kubach-Wilmsen and Wolfgang Kubach is located at Appeldorn Primary School. The work dates from around 1965. This combination of a named artwork, its artists and its location adds another cultural point of interest in Appeldorn alongside its historic buildings.

The Boetzelaerer Meer lies north of Appeldorn, to the east of the town of Kalkar. It was designated a nature reserve in 1985 and covers 25 hectares. The nutrient-rich oxbow lake is about 1.5 kilometres long and up to 130 metres wide; it lies outside the Rhine floodplain. These details describe both its size and its particular location in relation to the Rhine and the floodplain.

The wider destination of Kalkar includes other distinctive cultural sites. The townscape of Grieth am Rhein is shaped, among other things, by the late Gothic parish church of St. Peter and Paul. In Kalkar, St. Nicolai Church has nine late Gothic carved altarpieces, as well as sculptures, paintings and contemporary glass art in 22 windows. The town hall was built between 1438 and 1445/46 in the Brick Gothic style and served the town administration and trade; it was also a courthouse. The town windmill forms an ensemble with a brewery and a beer garden.

Discover more destinations: Kevelaer, Kranenburg, Kleve, Wachtendonk, Bedburg-Hau, Haldern, Rheurdt, Geldern

Back to the wider travel overview: Kleve.