Capital of the province of Noord-Holland.
The Walloon church, formerly the chapel of the beguinage and Haarlem's oldest church. In 1586 the church was drastically altered to suit its new function of a protestant church.
The Bakenesserkerk was built in 1250 but drastically rebuilt in 1461-1462. Although mostly built of brick and in a very moderate Gothic style, the richly ornamented natural stone upper segment of the tower make this church an attractive sight.
The Great Church or St. Bavo, built between 1370 and 1520, is often referred to as the city's cathedral, although the church only carried this title from 1559 until 1578 and was originally built as a parish-church. It is an important example of a Gothic church in the regional style of the coast of Holland which itself was based on Brabantine Gothicism.
The former St. Jan's kerk ('St. John's church') nowadays houses the regional historical archive. It has a nave from the 14th century while the choir is from the 15th century. The church was built as part of the monastery of the Knights of St. John.
The Nieuwe Kerk is a simple building from 1649 in Classical style by Jacob van Campen, with a tower from 1613 in Renaissance style by Lieven de Key. This was the first church in Haarlem specifically built for protestant services. It has peculiar buttresses that become thicker at the bottom, a reference to the image people had in that time of the temple of Jerusalem.
The St. Josephkerk was built in neo-Classical style in 1841-1843 by architect H.H. Dansdorp and became Haarlem's first cathedral after over 250 years in 1853.
This church, the H. Antonius van Padua, also known as Groenmarktkerk, dates from 1842 and was also built in the then popular neo-Classical style by one of that time's most important architects, T.F. Suys.
It looks just like many houses of the late 19th century, but this building in neo-Renaissance style is in fact the Remonstrant church.
The Gereformeerde Kerk is a nice example of architectural plagiarism. When Tj. Kuipers in 1887 designed a new church for the denomination of the Gereformeerden he could not suspect that he wouldn't be commissioned but that his drawings would be used by a competitor, H. van Es, to perfect his own design. Van Es eventually was commissioned to build this church in which many of Kuipers' ideas were used.
At some distance from the centre a new catholic St. Bavo's cathedral was built in three stages from 1895 until 1930. This impressive building was designed by architect Jos. Cuypers, and shows influences from many styles.