Do you want to visit another castle with me? Today I would like to take you to the castle De Haar in the Netherlands. It's the largest and most luxurious castle in the Netherlands so be ready for a long walk and amazing views!
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De Haar
The restoration of the castle in the 19th century was commissioned by Baron Etienne and Baroness Hélène Van Zuylen. The main architect was Pierre Cuypers who transformed the existing castle ruins into a representative fairy - tale castle.
The castle served as a private residence for many years. Daughters of the last baron decided to turn the residence into a museum which was opened in 2006. The castle De Haar is a private foundation and it entirely relies on the revenue from ticket sales, activities and events.
For many years it has been tradition for the Van Zuylen van Nijevelt van de Haar family to reside in the castle for one month a year. This is what they also agreed after the ownership of the castle was taken over by the foundation.
Are you ready for a tour?
Let's enter the complex through the main gate..
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The combined entrance fee to the castle and the park is EUR 16. If you want to join the guided tour and visit servant rooms, you will have to pay additional EUR 3 per person.
After we purchased our tickets we started to walk towards the castle.
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In front of the castle there is The Rose Garden that was redesigned as a memorial for Helin van Zuylen who died in a car accident. There are more than 75 rose varieties planted in the garden. Couple of them are still blooming. I can only imagine how beautiful the garden is in the summer.
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There are many gardens around the castle that represents different styles and ideas. This one is called The Boxwood Garden and it reflects the baroque garden style.
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The castle dates back to the 14th century when it was owned by the family De Haar. The ownership was transferred in 1440 to the Van Zuylen family. At the end of the 15th century the castle was burned down. It was partly restored but in the 17th century it turned into the ruins after Johan Van Zuylen died.
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After Etienne van Zuylen and Hélène de Rothschild inherited the castle they decided to restore it. The restoration was entirely covered by Hélène's family. It took them 20 years to restore the castle - from 1892 to 1912.
We watched a short documentary about the castle and it's hard to believe that they were able to turn the castle ruins into its current appearance!
It took great effort to protect the castle during the World War II. If Nazis would have known that the castle was built from Jewish money, they would have bombed it immediately.
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The castle has 200 rooms and 30 bathroom but only a few of them are opened to be viewed by the public. This small castle can't be accessed.
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It's a long walk to get to the main building..
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We're finally here! The colors of the family Van Zuylen are red and white so the flowers are planted in the same colors.
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Now we will walk up the stairs to get to the castle.
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Let's go inside!
Lions and mythical beasts are guarding the bridge across the moat at the entrance to the main building.
The bridge behind the 'guards' is a fully functioning drawbridge.
There is a mechanism to move the bridge up and down in one of the towers but it's not used at the moment as there are no cameras installed outside and you can't see the bridge from the tower, so it could happen that there would be a few casualties (tourists) if somebody would try to move it.
And this is also why cameras would do a better job than lions and other mythical beasts 😊
The Interior
The castle was very modern for the beginning of the 20th century. It was the first castle with electrical lighting with its own generator and even the Dutch Queen didn't have electricity in her residence at that time!
The castle De Haar was built to show the wealth of the family and to receive famous and important guests. The main hall was formerly the courtyard of the castle. It was roofed in during the restoration. The wooden ceiling is decorated with gold leaf. It is a very impressive room! The room is dark to protect the beautiful decorations.
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The Main Hall is a unique room which looks like a combination of a Gothic cathedral and a hotel lobby. It was created for the guests to relax, get a glass of champagne and wait for each other.
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The stain glass windows mainly portray a medieval bishop and the history of the Van Zuilen family.
Let's go to The Dining Room! This replica of the castle is made of sugar! It was built by head chef Pierre Amory. It was created in 1978. It took him two months to build this masterpiece and he used 80 kilos of sugar! This artwork was placed in the middle of the table, but it was far too beautiful to eat.
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The dining room could accommodate 34 guests. For over a hundred years, guests have been dining in this dining hall at the same table and in the same manners.
The table is set for 10 people but it can be extended. Shall I book a place for you? 😊
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In The Great Hall the baron and baroness were entertaining their prominent guests. Famous guests were Coco Chanel, Maria Callas, Gregory Peck, Roger Moore, Yves Saint Laurent, Joan Collins and Brigitte Bardot just to name a few.
There are a few mannequins representing some of the guests.
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This is Telly Savalas who was an American singer and character actor. In each room there was a volunteer who was there to help visitors. In this room it was challenging to find the person as she was sitting quietly next to the mannequins 😊
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The baron wished to have his bedroom decorated in Louise XIV style but Pierre Cuypers had different ideas that he wished to implement in this room. They went through heated discussions and at the end Cuypers' son Joseph produced the new design that was acceptable by the baron.
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The room is dominated by the impressive fireplace behind this desk. The Louise XIV style is strongly present in this room.
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Are you excited to see The Bedroom Of The Baroness?
The baron and baroness asked the French interior designer Henri Nelson to design this room. Like her husband she didn't like the Gothic style that was preferred by Pierre Cuypers. He was furious about this design and he created an oak door to hide this 'ugly' room.
I must agree with the baroness. It's a beautiful room perfectly decorated for a royal lady.
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The baron was very well known for his respect shown towards the servants. His personal servants didn't live in the castle but in a nearby village. All his guests came with their own servants. He created 30 comfortable rooms for these servants.
Usually servants had to face harsh conditions so the baron gained popularity by giving them so much comfort.
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This is the view from one of the rooms. I wouldn't mind..
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The Park
Let's explore the park now!
The park and gardens surrounding the castle cover over 135 acres of land and there are around 7000 trees!
You can spend there all day walking around. There are many spots where you can sit down and relax.
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The Roman Garden was created by Hendrik Copijn who took inspiration from classical Roman gardens. In summer the garden is planted with beautiful flowers.
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This is just one example.
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The church is the only landmark that remained from the village Haarzuilens. After the village was destroyed, the inhabitants were moved to a place that is a few kilometers away and a new Haarzuilens was established.
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The park looks like a small forest. What would you do with such a big 'garden'?
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There are also a few lakes in the park.
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It was a long day and now it's time to grab something to eat. I guess you are hungry too! 😊 We enjoyed the castle and we will come back again!
I hope you enjoyed the tour as much as we did !
All pictures are taken by my Nikon D3200 AF-S NIKKOR 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II (except of the ones indicated in the text)
Thank you for reading,
Cheers,
Martina
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ohhh wow... I love this castle... That is one thing I want to check out if I ever get a chance to visit Europe! I still can't get over how clean everything is and there's never any people in your pics!
You should come to Europe! I can even take you around and show you some of my favorite places!
Not everything is that clean but touristy places are kept nice. The castle only got open in 2006 and it's not that promoted so there were not many people around. We've seen some tourists from Asia but not that many. We also didn't know about the castle even though it's only 30 minutes drive from my in laws :)
Thank you for stopping by!
Martina,
Again a great tour. What a beautiful place. I am so happy I found you on Steem. I am getting to see so many new and interesting places!
Thank you Sara! I'm happy that you like it! I'm still waiting for you to come to Europe so that we can visit some places together!
Yes, it will be great. I have a couple of Steem friends that are from the Netherlands. Maybe when I come visit you in Switzerland I could go up there and see them and this castle too.
That sounds like a great plan!! I hope you'll make it to Europe next year!
Can I ask you for a favor Sara? I've been nominated for MySteem Angel and I would be very happy if you could support me here https://steemit.com/fundition/@see-it-feel-it/09a31afa . Thank you so much in advance!
Martina, just voted for you and saw a few others to vote for as well. Good luck.
Thank you so much Sara!
One of the most beautiful castles I've seen so far! I just add it on my "to see" list. Thank You for such a beautiful post!
Thank you so much for your support! You should definitely go there when you're in the Netherlands! Can I ask you for a favor? I've been nominated for MySteem Angel and it would be great if you could support me here https://steemit.com/fundition/@see-it-feel-it/09a31afa? Thank you in advance!
Good luck angel! I just did.
Thank you Dan!! (If I'm not mistaken this is your name :) )
Great post @delishtreats Love the flowers but I guess you would expect the dutch to do a good job with that. The great hall is my favorite room. The stained glass is so beautiful and what a grand setting for it! I also like the castle decorated with the banners in the family colors.
Thank you for stopping by Steve! You are right! I didn't even think about the fact that the Dutch are good with flowers :)
Mine too! I did't expect it to be like this! Yes, the detail is great!
This is so awesome! The main hall, where guests wait to meet each other, is breathtaking. I do like how the baroness changed her decor though- beautiful! Do you know what kind of flower that fire-y orange red one is? Almost looks like some type of marigold- gorgeous! Thank you for another great tour @delishtreats :)
Thank you for stopping by and for your nice comment! :)
The castle is so impressive. The funny thing is that we didn't know about it even though it's just like 30 minutes drive from my in laws :) It's not very promoted yet so you have to look for it to find it.
I have no idea what kind of flower that is. I've never seen them before..but you are right, it's gorgeous!
Very impressive and somewhat magical… fairytale like for sure. I’ll have to remember “castle in Netherlands” should we ever find ourselves there :)
Thank you for stopping by! You definitely should go there!!
Would you please do me a favor and support me here? I've been nominated for MySteem Angel! :) Thank you in advance for your support! :)
Done and done! Good luck :)
Thank you! I really appreciate your support! :)
No sweat !
Steemit won't let me upvote this but I LOVE old castles. We have them all over France too, and one of my favorite things to do is to wander the villages .
Oh yes, there are so many of them in France! I'm mainly staying in Switzerland in Germany but I have visited a few in France as well. They are so different!
Thank you for stopping by and don't worry about the upvote :)
Very nice detailed blog!
Sometimes my home country can be surprisingly beautiful!!
Thank you for the interesting read, this castle went straight to my to do list...i feel ashamed i never went there befor hahaha!
Thank you for stopping by!
My husband is Dutch too and he didn't know about the castle either, lol. You should definitely go there!
Thats the problem…..people dont "travel"enough within their own country haha!!
I have a foreign girlfriend so an extra good reason to visit it!
Have a nice day!
You are right! We live in Switzerland and we traveled more here than the Swiss! When I tell my Swiss colleagues where we've been to they usually say that they didn't even know there was something like this in Switzerland :D
Thank you! And have a nice day too!
30 BATHROOMS!?!?!?!?!
What in the world could they possibly need that many bathrooms for? Can you imagine being the person responsible for cleaning all those bathrooms? No thank you.
Otherwise, that looks like a lovely castle. It's neat that the family lives there one month out of the year. I guess that helps it keep an authentic flair.
Keep the castles coming! :-)
Hahaha! I guess that all these stars who were staying there wanted to have their personal bathroom :) And I think here were MANY people cleaning them so it was not that bad. I'm sure that the baron didn't make them work too hard. He is well known for his good behavior towards his servants.
Exactly! It feels like you would visit somebody (VERY RICH) at home :D
I will! There are so many around me so that it should not be a problem :)
Wow I know the castle, but wasn’t aware that it looked like this. Loving the view at the castle from the rose gardens. I work approx a 30min drive from this place, time to check it out. Thanks for this post.
!tf100
Thank you for stopping by! My in laws live 30 minutes drive from the castle (direction den Bosch) but we didn't know it was there! My husband was also surprised about it :) You should go there, it's worth it!
Yes I've put it on my list for the must see things. But it will be spring next year I will visit the castle I assume because everything will be green and fresh during that time I assume. Your husband didn't know this beauty either? :)
I think that it will be most beautiful in May/Jun.
Hahaha, no, he didn't. BUT the castle was opened to public in 2006 and he left the Netherlands before. From that time we don't spend so much time there so I think this is the reason why he didn't know about it. But his brother who still lives in the Netherlands was surprised to see the photos, lol. It really looks like a lot of Dutch people have no idea what they have in their country! :)
Dutchies love to travel the world but forget what they have in their backyard... The reason I'm trying to cover things from my area to show on Steemit. Learning about and exploring areas in my own comfortable area really enjoy it.
This is awesome! I love it when the castles are that well maintained and decorated. What a different to our empty castles, here in Portugal. Our Politicians really need to take a few classes in the Netherlands or Switzerland to understand how to capitalise on historical landmarks.
It's a pity when the government is not taking care of such historical sites. I went to Lisbon and loved it but you are right, many places seem to be abandoned..
Thank you for stopping by!
I wasn't even talking about that... that is a real travesty. So many abandoned buildings and palaces I can't even comprehend it.
But I was only referring to our most well known Castles, like in Bragança, Guimarães, Leiria, Tomar... where you have to pay a ticket to see an empty castle!!!
No chairs, no beds, no tables... no nothing. They could charge 5x more, if they did it like the Dutch or the Swiss.
Good to know! When I come back to Portugal I will know not to go inside of these castles :)
I don't know why some countries are doing so well and others not. Maybe other priorities in Portugal?
I love the castles in Europe, they're always so fairy tale like compared to the ones in England.
Have you booked the table for dinner yet? Let me know when it is ^_^
I haven't been to any castles in England so can't compare but I believe you.
Hahaha, we tried but we were told it's only for weddings.. we got married already so no chance.. and I understand you are married too! So sorry! :)
It’s a beautiful castle and a fabulous post. It certainly helps to have Rothschilds amounts of cash on a rebuild project of this calibre haha I have to approve though , it’s magical.The nice weather made a perfect backdrop to your beautiful photos too. Thanks for such a great tour inside - you have done a marvelous job again my dear friend. The castles commission should give you free access soon to these places when you are an acclaimed world travel blogger ( can’t be long in the future the way you are going) ❤️🌴🌈💛🦋🍀
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Thank you for your kind words! You are right! I would expect them to finance the whole thing instead of waiting for the visitors to pay the fees and collect the small amounts to maintain the castle..
It's an amazing place and I was surprised how it looks inside! It's really like a combination of a cathedral and a hotel. So cool!
Let's see about the free access :) If that would ever happen I would take you with me! :)
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in today's Travel Digest #325. Please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting the Travel Digest if you like what we're doing.
I upvoted your post.
Keep steeming for a better tomorrow.
@Acknowledgement - God Bless
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Fantastic walkthrough. This must cost a small fortune to maintain.
Proud member of #steemitbloggers @steemitbloggers
Thank you for stopping by Todd. Oh yes, it does! We did the guided tour and the guy told us that they are constantly renovating and maintaining it but it costs too much so it takes long time. Well, it's one of the richest families in the world so they could rely on their money instead of the visitors paying for the tickets :)
Ok now that just looks like something out of a Disney movie 😁
You are right! Actually many movies were taken there! Not the Disney ones though :)
The scenery is as beautiful as a landscape painting.
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TrufflePigThe structure really does look like a fairytale castle, I love those flowers!
Thank you for stopping by! I'm glad you liked it!
I've been to Netherlands but just few places, I really hope to see more of it in future.
You should! It a small country but there is so much to see!
Yes, I wanted to see the tulip farm!
Delightful photo treat..amazing 👌
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Thank you for stopping by @steemflow! :)
You have taken me along your tour....feeling i am kinda king of the palace..😜
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I was feeling like a princess there! Just with an empty wallet, lol!
I was feeling like
A princess there! Just with an
Empty wallet, lol!
- delishtreats
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
Hahah....the Royal feeling 👍...well princess dont carry wallets 😉 so you never know 😜
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You are right! I didn't think about it like this! :)
Seee....so enjoy your day..with some royal feeling..😉 at a royal palace
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what a dreamy castle , i enjoyed watching your pictures and this sunny day <3 resteemed
Thank you for your support!! I'm so pleased with the resteem! :)
You are so lucky to visit this castle.. One of the places to see in my bucket list.. Checking from phone so couldn't see the pictures, but I am coming back to see them tomorrow.. 😍
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So nice of you to come over even when you can't see the photos! :) Looking forward to your opinion tomorrow!
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This castle is pretty close to where I live, but I have never payed a visit! Maybe I should because it looks amazing!
Really? Once I post something from Holland and I find out that there are SO many Dutch people here!!! Maybe we should organize a meet up somewhere! Well, I'm not Dutch and I don't live in Holland but my husband is and I speak Dutch so it counts, doesn't it? :D
You should visit the castle when you get a chance! My husband also didn't know about it and his parents live 30 minutes drives from the castle :D
Haha yeah that counts ;D
Exponential!
UPDATE: Hi @delishtreats this post has been featured in C² Featured Posts, a daily publication of the @c-cubed blog. Check it out :) https://steemit.com/curation/@c-cubed/exponential-c-featured-posts-september-20th-2018
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It is beautiful. Reminds me of Neue Schwannstein near Munich
Yes, that's true! I'm planning to go there soon! :)
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Wow wow wow! I love all of it! I don't know where to begin! I would unknowingly waste the whole day away in the rose garden for sure. The inside is beautiful, so much craftsmanship. Each room brings a unique feel. You are fortunate to have access to such a beautiful castle and court yard, well worth the admission price. Great job at displaying it's personality. I wish there where castles like this in Canada.
There are so many things to see and the castle is only open from 11 AM to 5 PM which is really not enough if you want to see it all. We manage to finish on time but we were in hurry at the end - not ideal.
This is actually the most beautiful castle that I've been to! You can see the wealth of the family everywhere.
Oh yes, I feel very fortunate with being able to see such beautiful places! Well, you don't have castles BUT you have Rockies! ;)
Oh wow! How amazing. The minds that put this together must have been incredible. I can't think of a better reason to visit the Netherlands!
I featured this post in my #steemitbloggers contest entry for this week. Check it out in the discord. :-)
Thank you so much!! I've upvoted and resteemed your post. I wrote a comment as well (what is obvious :) )
A comment...? Where? Hahaha! ;-)
On your post! :) Am I supposed to post a comment somewhere on discord too?
I was just playing. I saw your comment. :-)
Oh!! How silly of me!! I'm so busy today that I didn't get the joke!!! :)
Dear @delishtreats,
1001 Places to Remember. Your content is a fit for the project and could be qualified for the 10 Steem reward biweekly contest.Your story attracted our attention and we would like to introduce our tag #archisteem that could provide you with some extra support. For your information, we are currently running the project –
It would be great if we can have this story of yours included in the project. If you agree, please reply to us.
Do drop by and take a look :) Hope to see you around soon.
Stay tuned and Steem on!
@archisteem and team
Thank you for your comment! I didn't know about the tag so thank you for introducing it to me! I would love to have my story included in the project!
I will check it out and will also go through the posts that are already under #archisteem tag!
Awesome @delishtreats! We look forward to see you around in the community :)
Steem on!
That's an incredible piece of history. I've always wanted to visit the Netherlands.
You should come there! There are so many places to see! Thank you for stopping by!
Perfect post. I was at this castle a few months ago. Very beautiful!
I'm sure the Rose Garden was much nicer a few months ago! Thank you for stopping by!
Of course, book a place for me at this table. A feast at the Barons must be a huge party! How many hours did it take you to visit the whole property?Oh dear @delishtreats this article is as amazing as Castle De Haar! It was great to walk with you through this place. You took wonderful pictures, I really enjoyed them. It was great that you had nice weather during the tour. The castle looks like from a fairy. 🌈🏰
Thank you for your nice comment! The castle is amazing! It's one of the most beautiful castles that I've ever visited and I must say that I've visited quite a few already :)
I asked about the table booking and I was told it's only for weddings or big celebrations. Let's see if somebody on Steemit will get married and we can suggest the reception to be there :)
It took us almost 5 hours together with the gardens and park. It's so big!
I have some ideas for big celebrations. ;)
5 hours shows what a huge area it is! I need to read your next articles.
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STOPhowdy there delishtreats! yawser!! what is the price tag on something like that again? probably just a few hundred million. Actually it's a little too large for my tastes to live in but the magnificence of it is stunning!
I love the classic design and that mote is awesome but the inside is more like a cathedral which was very surprising to me but then I don't think I've seen the insides of a castle except one other one and it was like a piece of junk compared to this wonderous work of art!
And I didn't even know that The Netherlands had any castles!
Another brilliant post that is close to perfection.
I have no idea how much it costs but the recent renovation was 43 million EUR if I understood correctly! :)
Yes, this is built like a Cathedral to impress the guests. I also haven't seen a castle like this before.
Sure, they have quite a few! I'll try to visit another castles as well so that you can see them too!
Thank you so much!! Hearing it from you is a great compliment!
Beautiful castle (ᵕ≀ ̠ᵕ )
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