Why Zeist Castle is a royal surprise?

-

Our 2nd castle visit of  2024 took place on January 6th. On a rather grey
Saturday we visited Slot Zeist in The Netherlands.







Slot Zeist is a castle built in the 17th. century in Zeist, near Utrecht in 
The Netherlands. We travelled from The Hague to Utrecht by train and then
we took the bus to the castle.






Some history


It all started with Willem Adriaan van Nassau, lord of Odijk, Kortgene,
Zeist and Driebergen, a natural grandson of Maurice of Orange and thus
a natural great grandson of Willem of Orange, also known as the Silent.

Willem Adriaan van Nassau  bought the manor of the States of Utrecht
in 1677 and had the current castle built. The architect of the house
was Jacobus Roman, who also designed Paleis Het Loo. 





The interior was mainly designed by the Huguenot Daniel Marot.
Its largely preserved wall and ceiling paintings are reminiscent
of the French Baroque. 

Construction lasted from 1677 to 1686. In 1745, Slot Zeist was
purchased by the merchant Cornelis Schellinger. In 1746 he donated
a portion to the Hernhutters that would serve as their headquarters
in the Netherlands. The Hernhutters had a Brother and Sister Square
constructed in front of the castle.

In 1830 Jan Elias Huydecoper became the new owner. He commissioned
Jan David Zocher to develop the backyard into a landscape park.
The baroque interior was adapted to the empire style that was
fashionable at the time. The large Baroque mural in the stairwell
survived this intervention because it was painted directly on the wall.

In 1924 the castle was purchased by the municipality of Zeist.

The castle was renovated in 1969 under the leadership of architect
Johannes Bernardus van Asbeck, who returned it to the original
Baroque style, using authentic demolition materials from other
Baroque buildings.

The municipality has handed over the operation of the lock to catering
entrepreneur Nico Bakker. At the beginning of December 2023,
it was announced that Fletcher Hotels will take over the operations of
Slot Zeist.




Exhibitions


We visited two lovely exhibitions at Slot Zeist: "Zeister Zilver voor 3
vorstinnen." with amazing pieces of the royal collection of our friend
Oscar Meijer (from the blog Staat van Oranje).


statues & pieces from the royal collection of Oscar Meijer






picture from the exhibition during a work visit of
Princess Beatrix to Zeist



some amazing Silver pieces of the exhibition






And the 2nd smaller exhibition from the story of Slot Zeist about the
history of the castle.








It were two great and interesting exhibitions with connections and ties
to the royal family of The Netherlands.



More information about Slot Zeist (in Dutch) on this link. 


These exhibitions were announced on the blog of Netty Royal on this link. 



Orangery

There also is a very nice Orangery, where you are able to eat or drink
something good. 



Me in front of Slot Zeist


I took the pictures about Slot Zeist in and around Slot Zeist on
January 6th. 2024. My goal for 2024: to visit at least one
castle/palace every month 😏

Location: Zeist, Netherlands

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who is who? de Liedekerke family!

-
Image
Only a few noble families are intertwined with the history of  a country.  The de Liedekerke family has it all: a long and interesting history and close ties to the rules of their country.  Let's take a closer look!  History It was in 1301 that the history of the family de Liedekerke started.  Then Knight Raas of Herzele signed an official document in Beveren. His son was Raas of Herzele of (de) Liedekerke. His descendants called themselves de Liedekerke.  But there were many interesting people in the family de Liedekerke. connections with the Duke of Burgundy Raas of Liedekerke, lord of Nieuwerkerken (+/- 1421 - 1494/1495) was married to a certain Johanna. Due to his marriage he became Lord of Heestert and Zulte. In 1476 he went on a military campaign with Charles the Bold. Duke of Burgundy. In 1477, Mary of Burgundy, appointed him as bailiff of Aalst and Geraardsbergen.  Charles the Bold Mary of Burgundy Connections with the House of Habsburg Steven of Liedekerke (+/- 1457 - 1530
Read more

House of Wittelsbach - Between crazyness and excellence

-
Image
Plate with the coat of arms of Bavaria, Germany own picture taken in Munich With this blog post about the House of Wittelsbach I take you on a trip to Bavaria (Bayern) in Germany. Since 1996, the royal family's head is: Franz, Duke of Bavaria. So far is the situation nowadays but this royal familie has a very nice history. Own picture taken of the Coat of Arms of Bavaria The House of Wittelsbach: the origin Otto II, Count of Scheyern (who died on 31 October 1120) could acquire the castle of Wittelsbach near Aichach. Later the Counts of Scheyern left the castle in 1119 for Wittelsbach Castle and the former was given to monks to establish Scheyern Abbey. From 1180 till 1918 the Wittelsbach dynasty ruled several German territories in Bavaria and the Electorate of the Palatinate (till 1805). In 1329 under the Treaty of Pavia, the House of Wittelsbach split in two branches. Emperor Louis IV granted the Palatinate including the Bavarian Upper Palatinate t
Read more

Who was Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan?

-
Image
On 14 May 2022 Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan passed away at the age of 73. Family Khalifa was born on 7 September 1948 at Qasr Al-Muwaiji, Al Ain, in Abu Dhabi (then part of the Trucial States), the eldest son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Hassa bint Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Education   He was a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Crown Prince When his father, Zayed, became Emir of Abu Dhabi in 1966, Khalifa was appointed the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi and Head of the Courts Department in Al Ain. Zayed was the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region before he became the Emir of Abu Dhabi. A few months later the position was handed to Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan. On 1 February 1969, Khalifa was nominated the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and on the next day he was appointed Head of the Abu Dhabi Department of Defense. In that post, he oversaw the build up of the Abu Dhabi Defense Force, which after 1971
Read more