Kasteel de Haar
Kasteel de Haar is an extensive castle complex in the Dutch town of Haarzuilens near Utrecht . Today's buildings are largely a result of what was initiated between 1892 and 1912 by the then owner Baron Etienne Van Zuylen van Nievelt van de Haar (1860–1934) and his wife Hélène de Rothschild (1863–1947) and under the direction of the architects Pierre and Joseph Cuypers rebuilt the ruins of the medieval and early modern complex.
history
The origins of the castle complex are believed to be in the middle of the 12th century. A first written mention of the castle took place in 1391, as a member of the family De Haar with the castle and the glory invested was. It remained in the family until the de Haar family died out in the male line and then passed to the Van Zuylen family through marriage . A Dirk van Zuylen was enfeoffed with the castle in 1451. However, the castle was burned down in 1482 in the course of armed conflicts and partially torn down. The remainder was probably integrated into a new building built at the beginning of the 16th century. In a document from 1506 the castle is mentioned as the property of Steven van Zuylen , and in 1536 in a list of the fiefdoms of the province of Utrecht. The oldest picture of the castle shows the largely restored complex in 1554. It fell into disrepair again from 1641 after Johan van Zuylen van de Haar died without leaving any descendants. During the Rampjaar in 1672, however, it escaped complete destruction by French troops.
Buildings
The core castle, which was built on an irregular pentagonal ground plan, has a total of five towers, two of which are rectangular and three of which are round. The originally open inner courtyard of the main castle was covered during the reconstruction, cf. Reconstruction and equipment section. Brick was mainly used as the building material .
The main castle is completely surrounded by a moat. The church of the complex is located on this, directly opposite the main castle. The church was also dilapidated in the 19th century and partly without a roof.
- inside rooms
Central hall
bathroom
Cuyperskammer
Coffered ceiling in the baron's bedroom
salon
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Reconstruction and equipment
During the reconstruction, Pierre Cuypers made sure to keep the old and new masonry distinguishable by using a different type of brick for the new walls. The castle has 200 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms. While the exterior and interior architecture of the facility, apart from the Baroness' rooms that were not designed by Cuypers, is uniformly in the neo-Gothic style , the most modern techniques were used during the reconstruction, both in terms of construction and building services.
When covering the inner courtyard of the main castle, which was open in the Middle Ages and which, according to the client's wishes, should form a cathedral-like hall, steel girders and prefabricated reinforced concrete parts supplied by an Amsterdam company were used to build the ogival barrel vault. This was clad on the soffit with a prefabricated wooden paneling in the Cuypersche workshops in Roermond, so that the client's request for a wooden barrel vault was met.
In addition, a generator for generating electricity, a lift and a steam-powered central heating system were installed. For this reason, the castle is not only recognized as an architectural monument, but also as an industrial monument .
The architectural office Cuypers not only designed the building as such, but almost all of the furnishings, including small details, the furniture and even the cutlery and the uniforms of the servants. Much was made by the company Cuypers & Co. in Roermond, operated by Pierre and Jos Cuypers, which specialized in the production of sculptures, furniture and other fittings for churches; but sometimes also given to outside companies, such as a Parisian silversmith for cutlery. A number of employees of the Cuypers company, including sculptors, were in Haarzuilens for a long time to carry out construction work.
An outstanding component of the reconstruction is the already mentioned large hall, which has taken the place of the open inner courtyard, with its multi-storey, circumferential and richly formed gallery, which did not exist in the old building. The gallery made the originally captured rooms of the old facility accessible independently of one another.
The interior also includes parts of the Rothschild collections, including valuable porcelain from China and Japan as well as religious pictures.
Park
The castle is surrounded by a 100 hectare park designed by Hendrik Copijn . Copijn was able to prevail with his design against suggestions from Cuypers himself and from Leonard Anthony Springer , but Pierre Cuypers designed some buildings in the park. In order to meet the baron's wish for trees to provide shade as soon as possible, over 6,000 large trees between the ages of 30 and 40 were planted here. In the absence of appropriate material, these had to be transported across Utrecht by horse and cart near the construction site. The baron even bought buildings in Utrecht so that they could be demolished to make room for the transport route.
The park was created by Copijn as a landscape park , in which several themed gardens of other garden architectural styles are integrated. Parts of the park are reminiscent of the gardens of Versailles , for example .
The original village of Haarzuilen had to give way to the park to create the desired visual axes - except for the church. The 150 or so residents were relocated to a new village about one kilometer away, built in a rural, historic style in 1898. The plans for the new village and its buildings were designed by Jos Cuypers together with a few other architects.
During the Second World War, many trees in the park were felled to produce firewood, while the open spaces were used for growing vegetables. The village of Haarzuilens is now partially owned by the Dutch nature conservation organization Vereniging Natuurmonumenten .
Current ownership
In 2000, the Kasteel de Haar Foundation acquired the 45 hectare site around the castle from the Van Zuylen van Nyevelt family. Another 400 hectares in the surrounding area were bought by the Natuurmonumenten. Between 2001 and 2010 the castle and park were restored. The castle grounds are currently used for trade fairs and markets, including the Elf Fantasy Fair .
literature
- Ileen Montijn: Pierre Cuypers, 1827–1921, Schoonheid as Hartstocht . Stedelijk Museum Roermond and Immerc bv, Wormer 2007, ISBN 978-90-6611-636-8 , p. 88 ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b C. B. van der Tak in: Bouwkundige bijdragen, Volume 8, Maatschappij tot bevordering der bouwkunst . I. van Bakkenes & Co., Amsterdam 1862, p. 385 [1]
- ↑ CB van der Tak in: Bouwkundige bijdragen, Volume 8, Maatschappij tot bevordering der bouwkunst . I. van Bakkenes & Co., Amsterdam 1862, p. 382 and Plate VIII [2]
- ↑ Article about Hendrik Copijn by AWJ de Jonge in: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 6. Available online at historici.nl, accessed on December 25, 2011
Coordinates: 52 ° 7 '17.4 " N , 4 ° 59' 10.6" E