Town Hall Haarlem

The City Hall in Haarlem is the seat of the city's government. It was built in the 14th century replacing the Count's castle. Around 1100 a wooden building was constructed on the location of the current Gravenzaal of the City Hall. Traces of this building were found in 1955. The town hall is still used for civic weddings and nearly every Friday in Spring, brides can be seen entering and leaving by the main stairway. All year on Saturdays and Mondays there is a big market in front of the City Hall, where on Saturdays mainly flowers, household goods, and food is sold, though on Mondays the products are mainly cloth, sewing accessories and clothing. Although the market is frequented by the local population, it is also a tourist attraction and worth a visit, if only to try the raw herring from the fish stand, or stroopwafels from the stroopwafel stand. The town hall is also still used for state visits, most recently when the King and Queen paid a visit to Haarlem on 14 June 2013. They heard the local choir Zang en Vriendschap sing and received a book about all the previous royal state visits to Haarlem.

It can never have been so quiet n this complex of beautiful buildings which have seen centuries come and go.

One of the interesting historic buildings at Grote Markt is the Stadhuis (City Hall). Presently the Haarlem Tourist Office can be found at Stadhuis. Opening hours are 9.30am to 5.30pm on Monday to Saturday and 11am to 3pm on Sundays. Historically, there have been buildings here since at least 1100. The present building dates back to the first half of the 14th-century and is medieval in form. Stadhuis also impressively features an early 17th-century facade and tower Dutch Renaissance and Classicist in style. We enjoyed viewing the Stadhuis exterior during our visit to Grote Markt. We also found the Tourist Office within a useful place to pick up self-walk tour maps, brochures and general information about Haarlem. This was a worthwhile place to visit at the beginning of our day trip to Haarlem from Amsterdam.

We got married here in "De Librije" but I have seen the rest of the interiour on tours. Haarlem is a big old city and city hall really reflects that. The venerabel architecture are monumental and beautiful. There are several paintings and items inside with quite a bit of history to them. Amongst the older halls stand a couple of modernised offices and sections, although those arn't quite to my personal likings.

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