Kasteel Duivenvoorde

Voorschoten, Netherlands, Netherlands

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Kasteel Duivenvoorde is one of South Holland's oldest castles, first mentioned in 1226 as a simple square donjon or fortified residence named after the nearby Duve and Voor streams, located in Voorschoten, Netherlands.

Expanded over centuries by the Van Wassenaer family—who owned it for over 500 years without selling—it received its current symmetrical form in 1631 under Johan van Wassenaer, featuring 17th-century walls, a north wing, moat, and later French baroque gardens laid out in the early 1700s by Arent IX van Wassenaer.

Passing through families like Steengracht and Schimmelpenninck van der Oye via inheritance, it became a summer residence before transfer to the Duivenvoorde Foundation in 1960, now open as a museum with preserved 17th-19th century interiors, gardens, and artifacts.