History Of Royal Palace

The house of Orange-Nassau know also as The Dutch Royal House has been part of the Netherlands now since the 15th century, the House having close ties with the Netherlands have made a major contribution to the government as heads of state, kings and Queens.

Royal Palace was built by Jacob van Campen, who took control of the construction project in 1648, as the Town Hall for the City of Amsterdam, and was built on 13,659 wooden piles. It was opened on 20th July 1655 by the leaders of the city. The interiors, focusing on the power and prestige of Amsterdam, were completed later (mainly by Rembrandt and Ferdinand Bol).



Amsterdam’s Royal Palace is in the heart of the city, on Dam Square.

After the patriot revolution which swept the House of Orange from power a decade earlier, the new Batavian Republic was forced to accept Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, as King of Holland in 1806. After holding his court at The Hague and Utrecht, Louis Napoleon moved to Amsterdam, and converted the Town Hall into a royal palace for himself.

The King of Holland did not have long to appreciate his new palace. He abdicated on the 2 July 1810, and the Netherlands was annexed by France. The palace then became home to the French governor, Charles François Lebrun.

Prince William VI (son of Prince William V of Orange), returned to the Netherlands in 1813, after Napoleon fell from power, and restored the palace to its original owners. After his investiture as King William I of the Netherlands, however, Amsterdam was made the official capital of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (the seats of government being Brussels and The Hague). The new King realised the importance of having a palace in the capital, and the Town Hall again became a royal palace.

It was made property of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1936, and is used by the Queen for entertaining and hosting official functions, such as state visits, the New Year reception, and the presentations of the Erasmus, Royal Grant to Painting and Prince Claus prizes.

The Royal Palace on the Dam, formerly the town hall, constitutes an impressive central point of Amsterdam. Nowadays it serves as the Queen's residence when she is in the city. Building began on 20 January 1648 with the sinking of the first of 13,659 piles for the new town hall. Its architect was Jacob van Campen whose inspiration was the architecture of Ancient Rome; the exterior is strictly classical and the interior is magnificently furnished. The apartments are decorated with a wealth of reliefs, ornamentation and marble sculpture by the Flemish sculptors Artus Quellinus and Rombout Verhulst, and with friezes and ceiling-paintings by Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck, pupils of Rembrandt.