Haarlem By Night

Pavilion "Welgelegen"

Another important building in Haarlem. This stately mansion was build by Amsterdam banker Henry Hope between 1786 and 1789. It was the first neo-classicist building in the Netherlands, and admired all over the country at the time. Hope, from Scottish descent, build it primarily to house his art collection.

But the building is actually best known from his temporary illustrious owner King Louis Bonaparte, the brother of the French Emperor Napoleon I, who was assigned rule over the Netherlands. One of his sons was later to become Emperor Napoleon III. His stay in the Netherlands though, was short lived, as he came into conflict with his brother the Emperor, who finally threw him of the throne in 1810, putting Holland under his own direct reign.