Still Life by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Still Life

Page 31

and a rider whose face had been worn away by time. "He could be anyone," Susie said. "Or everyone."

They drank slowly, watching the room shift around them. A child ran past with a wooden sword. A docent explained the lineage of a chandelier. A couple posed for a photo, then immediately checked it for flaws. Finn leaned back. "This place is a rehearsal," he said. "Not for history. For how we pretend to remember it."

Susie smiled. "Then let's improvise after I tell you a few things. Right now, I have too great an advantage over you. De Haar Castle is a ritual of restoration. The site dates back to 1391, when the De Haar family received the land as a fiefdom from Hendrik van Woerden. Originally a fortified house, it passed to the Van Zuylen family in 1440 through marriage. In 1482, the castle was burned during conflicts between the Bishop of Utrecht and the city. It was rebuilt in the early 1500s with a pentagonal layout, likely reflecting both defense and theatricality. By the late 17th century, the castle had fallen into disrepair, surviving the Rampjaar of 1672 when French troops ravaged much of the Netherlands. The structure languished for centuries, a ghost of feudal prestige, until it was inherited by Etienne Gustave Frédéric Baron van Zuylen van Nyevelt in 1890. Etienne's marriage to Baroness Hélène de