Castles.info

Castles › Castles in the Netherlands › Friesland › Leeuwarden ›

Vijversburg

Location: 8 km east of Leeuwarden, the provincial capital of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, along the N355 direction Hurdegaryp-Dokkum, at the village of Tytsjerk, at Rijksstraatweg 10.

History: The Vijversburg estate was in the 17th century a summer residence for a Leeuwarden merchant, later having been the home of families Looxma and Ypeij. In the 17th and 18th centuries there were two houses on the estate, one called Vijversburg and the other Toutenburg. In 1844 the current manor house of Vijversburg was built. There is still a memorial stone on the wall of the building, saying that the corner stone to the building was laid by the 10-year old Age Looxma Ypeij, grandson of Age Binses Looxma who had bought the estate in 1799. In 1855, after Binses Looxma’s son-in-law had also bought the estate of Toutenburg next door, the second house there was demolished and the grounds of the two estates joined. At the end of the 19th century, a hospital was built to the site which still carries the Toutenburg name. Since 1892 the estate and the grounds are taken care of by the Foundation of Toutenburg. In the beginning of the 20th century the Vijversburg house was inhabited by the warden of the estate, Mr Teunissen. In 1964 Hector Baerdt van Sminia, also the owner of the De Klinze estate in Aldtsjerk, came to live at Vijversburg. In the last few decades the house has been rented by the International Police Association.
The manor house is surrounded by a famous landscape garden featuring tea houses, ponds (the word vijver in the name of the estate meaning a pond) and flowerbeds, designed by Lucas Pieters Roodbaard who is also the author of many other parks in the area. From 1997 there are biannual art exhibitions in the park in summer.

Access: The park is open daily until 18.00, free entry.

Other castles in the area: Staniastate (6km), De Klinze (7-8 km), Schierstins (6-7 km).

Nearby cities: Leeuwarden, Dokkum.