Teylers Museum

Amidst a typical Dutch urban ensemble of narrow Renaissance facades, bounded by the Waag, the Bavo, and the tower of the Bakenesserkerk, rises an impressive facade in eclectic neo-style that would not have been out of place in the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy of Francis Joseph and his Sisi. The architect, Christian Ulrich, was indeed an Austrian.

The monumental doors of the building, which was completed in 1885, grant access to Teylers Museum, the oldest museum in the Netherlands. The new premises were intended to mark the centenary of an institution that had already been established in 1778.

The museum was the brainchild of the Haarlem textile magnate Pieter Teyler van der Hulst. Born in 1702 in an Anabaptist environment, he married Helena Verschaven from Amsterdam in 1728. Teyler must have been an extremely capable entrepreneur. The Haarlem textile industry fell into serious trouble in the first half of the eighteenth century, yet he managed to amass a colossal fortune of over 2 million guilders for that time. In 1756, he decided to make his fortune available through his will for, as he put it himself, ''the promotion of religion, encouragement of arts and sciences, and the common good''.

INFO:
Teylers Museum, Spaarne 16, Haarlem

Source: http://www.nationaalarchief.nl/

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