Bishop Gaspard Bottemanne began planning the cathedral in 1893, and it was meant to serve as both cathedral and parish church. Joseph Cuypers was the architect. His father, Pierre Cuypers, was the original intended architect and may have made a first design, but he handed the work to his son because of his age.
Building ran from 1895 to 1930. The choir and radiating chapels began in 1895, the transept and nave were built from 1902 to 1906, and the towers were postponed until 1927 for lack of money. The sources conflict on style. The infobox says Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance, while the text describes a neo-Romanesque style with Byzantine and Jugendstil influences.
It is the main cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam, and a former sacristy now serves as a small museum.
Comments