Museum Weekend 2013: Duivenvoorde Castle

In conjunction with the annually held Museum Weekend on the 6 & 7 of Apr, over 400 museums around the Netherlands welcome guests for free or a nominal fee. There are a total of 15 museums residing in The Hague that participated in this highly anticipated event.

Being a museum addict, I seized this opportunity to visit the Duivenvoorde Castle which can only be visited with a guided tour at specified times during normal days.

Situated between Leiden and The Hague, the castle can be reached via Bus #45 from The Hague Central Station, about a 20 minutes ride. Surrounded by the Duivenvoorde and De Horsten estates, the castle was bestowed with English inspired landscape.

The castle dated from early 13th century and is claimed to be one of the oldest castles in South Holland. Over the centuries, the castle has housed several noble Dutch families until year 1960 where the last private owner, Lady Ludolphine Henriette Schimmelpenninck left the stewardship of the house to the Duivenvoorde Foundation for conservation.

The castle retains most of its original furnishings, silverware, books, Asian ceramics and excellent collection of fine arts and family portraits passed down from centuries. Credit must be given to the tireless effort from the Duivenvoorde Foundation.

Opened all year long, the park surrounding the castle is also worth to explore. Do equip yourself with a good pair of walking shoes as the park is really huge.

I was captivated by a still working fire place in the castle. Really cool indeed as dried woods were burned to heat up the massive Great Hall of Duivenvoorde Castle.

The equally famous Park surrounding Duivenvoorde Castle provided the perfect backdrop for this stunning castle. Is it worth a detour? A resounding yes from me.

Kasteel Duivenvoorde
Laan van Duivenvoorde 4
2252 AK Voorschoten
Tel: 071-5613752
http://www.kasteelduivenvoorde.nl

Operation hours:
Tue - Sat   only with guided tour at 2pm and 3.30pm 
* special request for group tours and foreign language guided tours

Admission fee:
€10    Adults
€5      Children (13-16yr)
Free   Museum card, ICOM, children below 12
* admission fee for the museum includes a visit to the park