3 Best Sights in Delft, The Randstad

A former dignitary-hosting convent of St. Agatha, the Prinsenhof Museum is celebrated as the residence of Prince William the Silent, beloved as Vader des Vaderlands (Father of the Nation) for his role in the Spanish Revolt and a hero whose tragic end here gave this structure the sobriquet "cradle of Dutch liberty." The complex of buildings was taken over by the government of the new Dutch Republic in 1572 and given to William of Orange for his use as a residence. On July 10, 1584, fevered by monies offered by Philip II of Spain, Bathasar Gerard, a Catholic fanatic, gained admittance to the mansion and succeeded in shooting the prince on the staircase hall, since known as Moordhal (Murder Hall). The fatal bullet holes—the teykenen der koogelen—are still visible in the stairwell. Today, the imposing structure is a museum, with a 15th-century chapel, a quaint courtyard, and a bevy of elegantly furnished 17th-century rooms filled with antique pottery, silver, tapestries, and House of Orange portraits, along with exhibits on Dutch history.

Within the shadow of the Oude Kerk, this neo-Renaissance, canalside mansion was built in 1893 by Lambert van Meerten, a wealthy local antique dealer. Its gloriously paneled rooms provide a noble setting for his collection of period furnishings, antique tiles, and paintings. The gardens here are equally alluring, with a spherical sundial, and a stone gateway leading the eye through to the tangled woods beyond.

This 18th-century canalside mansion was the former home of 19th-century painter Paul Tétar van Elven. The interior he created is charmingly redolent of Ye Olde Delft, complete with painted ceilings, antiques, and even a reproduction of an artist's atelier done up in the Old Dutch style.