De Haar Castle

Listen for a moment. The gravel crunches underfoot, and somewhere close by, water laps softly against old brick. Ahead of you, red walls rise straight out of a dark moat, crowned with towers, turrets and steep slate roofs. It looks like a medieval fortress. It looks like a fairy tale. But the truth of De Haar Castle is stranger, and in some ways more interesting, than either of those things.

You are in the green, flat countryside between Breukelen and the city of Utrecht. This is a landscape of polders, which are low fields drained and protected by water channels. Cows graze here, cyclists pass on narrow roads, and the horizon stretches wide. Then this castle appears among the trees. It feels almost out of place, as if someone lifted it from a storybook and set it down in a Dutch meadow.

There really was a medieval castle on this spot. Historical records mention a De Haar family and their stronghold here in the late fourteenth century. Over the following centuries, the castle passed through different hands. It suffered war damage, fire and neglect. By the late nineteenth century, very little was left. There were crumbling walls, an overgrown moat and a ruin that few people visited. Most of what you see today is not medieval at all.

Here is the turning point. In the 1880s, the ruin passed to a young nobleman, Baron Etienne van Zuylen van Nyevelt. Around the same time, he married Hélène de Rothschild, a member of the famous banking family. Her fortune changed everything. Together, the couple decided not simply to repair the ruin. They decided to rebuild it — bigger, grander and more romantic than it had ever been.

To design the new castle, the baron hired Pierre Cuypers. He was the leading Dutch architect of his day. Cuypers also designed the Rijksmuseum and Central Station in Amsterdam, so you may already know his work. He loved the Gothic style, the pointed arches and tall towers of medieval Europe. At De Haar, he could indulge that love on a huge scale. Work began in the early 1890s and continued for around two decades.

Now, a detail many visitors miss. Cuypers did not throw away the old ruin. He built the new castle around and on top of the surviving medieval walls. So, as you look at the brickwork, you are looking at layers of time. Some of the lower masonry is centuries older than the towers above it. The castle is, in a real sense, a nineteenth-century dream wrapped around a medieval core.

The second surprise is even bigger. The baron wanted a grand park around his castle, but a village stood in the way. That village was Haarzuilens. So the family had it moved. The old houses were taken down, and a new village was built a short distance away. You can still visit it today. Look for its red and white shutters, which echo the family colours. Few estates anywhere have rearranged a whole community for their view.

The gardens were just as ambitious. The landscape designer Hendrik Copijn laid out long avenues, ponds and formal gardens across the estate. The baron did not want to wait decades for young trees to grow. So, according to the estate's own history, thousands of mature trees were brought in and replanted fully grown. The result was a park that looked old almost from the start. Today, there is a rose garden, a formal Roman-style garden and wide wooded walks.

Inside, the castle mixes old-world style with modern comfort. Although it looks medieval, it was built with the latest technology of its time. It had electric light and central heating — luxuries in many homes then. Bathrooms with running water served the guests. So while the knights' hall looks like it belongs in the Middle Ages, the castle was really a very modern country house in a costume of stone and brick.

The great hall is the heart of the interior. Look up at the carved wood and the soaring Gothic arches. Cuypers and his craftsmen filled the rooms with detailed carvings, stained glass and painted decoration. The family also collected art and objects from across Europe and Asia. You will see old tapestries, fine furniture and porcelain. Notice how the light from the tall windows falls on the dark wood. On a grey day, the hall feels quiet and solemn.

Oddly, this enormous house was not a full-time home. The family usually stayed here for only a few weeks each year, often in late summer. During those weeks, the castle came alive with house parties. Guests from the worlds of high society, fashion and film came to stay. They hunted, dined and danced. For the rest of the year, the staff kept the rooms ready. It was a vast stage, used for a short and glittering season.

In the twentieth century, keeping such a place became harder. Running a castle of this size takes great sums of money and constant work. Eventually, the castle passed into the care of a foundation, which now looks after the building and its collections. Restoration work continues, room by room and roof by roof. Thanks to that effort, visitors can walk through the house and park and see the baron's vision largely as he intended it.

As you explore, keep both stories in mind. One is the story of a real medieval stronghold, battered and forgotten. The other is a story of romance, wealth and imagination at the end of the nineteenth century. Both live in the same walls. Some people call De Haar the largest castle in the Netherlands. Whatever its rank, its real fascination lies in that blend of old and new.

Before you leave, pause by the moat once more. Watch the reflection of the towers move gently on the water. Listen to the birds in the tall trees that once arrived here fully grown. Then, as you walk back along the gravel, glance over your shoulder. The castle looks timeless from here. Now you know it was made, with great care, to look exactly that way.