Town Hall Haarlem

That gigantic whale bone hanging inside these walls once sailed the world's oceans before finding its final resting place in what is the oldest continuously operating city hall in all of the Netherlands. Standing here on the Grote Markt, you're gazing at 900 years of uninterrupted government power... this building has never stopped serving as the seat of local authority since wooden beams were first raised on this spot around 1100. Look up at that distinctive row of chimneys on the northern wing - those are the signature of Lieven de Key, the master architect who transformed this medieval fortress into a Renaissance masterpiece between 1602 and 1604, creating those unmistakable stepped chimneys that became his trademark across the Dutch Golden Age. But here's what most visitors never realize - you're not just looking at a city hall, you're looking at a former palace of the Counts of Holland! After devastating fires in 1347 and 1351, Count William donated these royal ruins to the citizens, and they've been governing themselves from this very spot ever since. Those 13th-century wooden beams still hidden inside? They're the last remnants of when nobility ruled from these halls. Step inside if you can, and you'll discover that whale bone isn't the only treasure - Frans Hals paintings still hang in rooms where Dominican monks once prayed, before the Protestant Reformation transformed their cloister into the municipal heartbeat of Haarlem that still pulses today.