Heritage Foundation Oud-Poelgeest
Currently, the country estate is managed by the Heritage Foundation Oud-Poelgeest and serves as a venue for conferences and events, as well as a hotel. The estate consists of 5 heritage monuments: the Castle, the Coach House, the Chapel, the Forester’s House and the Gate. Each building has a history and unique story. Did you know that every hotel reservation contributes to the conservation of this unique cultural monument?
First stage of restoration of Dragon Hall Oud-Poelgeest completed
On Friday, April 10, we celebrated the completion of the first stage of the restoration of the Dragon Hall.
As President of the Heritage Foundation Oud-Poelgeest, Ms Volker-Diemen took the opportunity to thank all of those involved for their hard work and dedication.
She thanked the painters from Schildersbedrijf de Jongh in Waardenburg, who restored the magnificent ´polychrome´ plastered ceiling, which had been painted all white before. After much research and `paint scraping`, the original colors of the flowers, whorls and mythical creatures were finally revealed. “A whole new generation of professionals has worked on this project. Wonderful!”
She also mentioned restorer Astrid van den Berg, who reinvigorated the three ‘Witjes’ – unique three-dimensional paintings dating from 1753.
She jokingly described the work of curator and researcher Roos Keppler: “The more she scraped, the more it cost.”
Restoration architect Flip Robers referred to the party that Mr Willink must have hosted 150 years ago when he inaugurated the original Dragon Hall. “We worked very hard on this restoration,” he stated. “It deserves a splendid celebration. Next year, the hall will be completely finished with curtains and additional Gobelins tapestries.”
Robers also mentioned the beautifully restored mantelpiece in Griotte Rouge. “It was quite hard to find the exact matching marble, but we did it! You can’t even tell which pieces were once missing.”
Next fall, a new wooden floor will be added to the hall.