The Rijnhuizen mansion (Utrecht)

 castle, office building, monument, interesting place

The history of the Rijnhuizen Castle begins some eight hundred years ago when an originally wooden stronghold was first mentioned in the annals. Hardly two centuries later it was replaced by a brick building forming two fortified houses of 6 x 6 m2 connected together. During some turbulent centuries Rijnhuizen Castle was destroyed several times. In 1640 Sir Reinoud van Tuyll van Serooskerke rebuilt it into its present shape. In 1655 the De Geer family acquired Rijnhuizen that remained privately owned until the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter - FOM - bought it in 1958. The castle itself and the coach houses were renovated in 1959. In the following years the laboratory was built and gradually enlarged on the 11 hectare Rijnhuizen site.