Keukenhof

For 60 years now, Keukenhof has been the most beautiful place in the world, where spring bursts out in all of its colorful majesty.

Here you can find inspiration and relaxation in a magnificent park environment. In addition to the millions of blooming flower bulbs and fantastic flower shows, Keukenhof has the largest sculpture garden in the Netherlands and is the most photographed spot in the world.

History

Where Keukenhof is situated now, was a hunting area in the 15th century. Herbs for the kitchen of the castle of Jacoba van Beieren were also collected here; hence the name Keukenhof.

The current park was a section of the sizeable estate of Slot Teylingen, with beautiful untamed bushes and dunes.

After the decease of Jacoba van Beieren Keukenhof fell into the hands of rich merchant families. Baron and baroness Van Pallandt invited landscape architects J.D. and L.P. Zocher, designers of the Amsterdam Vondelpark, to make a design for the garden around the castle.

This design, in the English landscape style, has always been the basis of Keukenhof.

At the moment the estate belongs to a Corporation. On the initiative of the Lisse mayor of that time and a number of leading flower bulb growers and exporters, an open air flower exhibition was organized here for the first time in 1949.

This expanded to an annually recurring event that has always drawn great numbers of visitors from all over the world. This is how Keukenhof became the park that we now know.