I am Raymond Pelgrims De Bigard, the building master who together with Charles Mertens and François Van Halen supervised the restoration of the Castle of Beersel. I was born in 1875 and married at the age of 22 to the daughter of the Brussels architect Victor Jamar. I was neither an architect nor an art historian when, in 1902, I purchased the ruined castle of Groot-Bijgaarden and started its restoration. I got my knowledge from my library and from practice. To me, restoration means restoring the building to its original condition, which I reconstruct based on old plans and images of the building. Without these sources I would never have initiated the restoration. In my opinion, the purpose of a building should adapt to the historical monument and not the other way round, so I made no concessions as to the future use of the building. Driven by a passion for the past, I rescued several historic buildings from ruin. By trying to convince wealthy people to invest in the restoration of these historic buildings. I was mainly a man of the building site, rather than a writer or draughtsman.
In that vein, I founded the "Association Royale des demeures historiques de Belgique" (Royal Association of Historical Residential Cities and Gardens of Belgium), an association of castle owners committed to the preservation and enhancement of castles and wanting to contribute to the enrichment of the tourism heritage of Belgium, in 1928. The association acquired several castles, which it then restored. My most famous restoration projects were the castle, church and town hall of Groot-Bijgaarden and the castles of Beersel, Bonlez, Lavaux-Sainte-Anne, Rixensart, Chimay, Rijkel, Vèves and Laarne. The Abbey of 't Park in Heverlee, the Mercator-Ortelius House in Antwerp and the Brewery Museum in Brussels. Pictures of the castles I worked on can be found on the side panel of this niche. In 1928, the castle of Beersel, which had decayed into a romantic ruin, was donated by the then owners, Count Guillaume de Hemricourt de Grunne and Countess Henriette de Merode, to the "Ligue des amis du Château de Beersel" (League of Friends of Beersel Castle), which had been founded the year before by myself, Charles Mertens, state official, and François Van Haelen, local brewer and art patron, who mainly wanted to promote the castle's impact on tourism in the Senne Valley. The story of the restoration can be found next to the pictures alongside.
I was also the president of the "Association des Amis de la Commission Royale des Monuments et Sites" (Association of Friends of the Royal Commission on Monuments and Sites) and a Corresponding Honorary Member of the "National Trust". A delegation of this prestigious association even visited the castle on the occasion of the inauguration of the restoration works. If you look closely, you will see me in the picture in front of the niche. Then, as from 1954, I was president of the 'Institut International des Châteaux Historiques' (International Castles Institute), an international organisation that focused on the study of castles and their promotion in different countries. The institute also inventoried castles, collected archives and opened a specialised library at its headquarters in Rapperswil Castle (Zürich). Finally, in 1954, I created the "prix Pelgrims de Bigard", an international award granted in recognition of outstanding work in the field of restoration. I died in 1955 at the age of 80.