AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Tucked along the Kromme Rijn river just outside Utrecht, Landhuis Oud Amelisweerd is an 18th-century summer house that feels frozen in time. Built around 1770 and never intensively lived in, its original floors, doors, and ceilings survive virtually unchanged—along with extraordinary hand-painted Chinese wallpaper that makes it one of the Netherlands' most remarkable national monuments.↗↗
Today the manor house hosts rotating exhibitions of contemporary art, science, and history, a Cabinet of Curiosities, and a children's nature library in the attic. The setting—deep within the Amelisweerd and Rhijnauwen estates, surrounded by parkland and meandering waterways—makes the visit as much about a peaceful walk as about what is inside the house.↗↗
A House Preserved Since 1770
Gerard Godard Taets van Amerongen commissioned this country house around 1770 as a neoclassical retreat with rococo touches, and he most likely designed it himself. He had a bridge built over the Kromme Rijn and reshaped the grounds into the park you can still walk today. The ground floor was laid out as a sequence of enfilade rooms—salons and dining rooms—while guest apartments occupied the first floor and servant quarters the attic.
