Scharloo () is a neighbourhood and former suburb of

Willemstad Willemstad ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was the cap ...

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

, a

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

island in the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the New World territories, colonies, and countries (former and current) of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea, mainly the norther ...

. Scharloo started as a plantation, but became a wealthy neighbourhood of Willemstad. Scharloo has been designated a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

History

Scharloo started in 1634 as a plantation of the

Dutch West Indies Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was g ...

. The ground turned out to be infertile, and the plantation was soon abandoned. In 1694, the first wharf was built on Scharloo. In 1753, some houses had been built in Scharloo, however the government considered the area important for defence and did not allow new construction. From 1850 onwards, Scharloo started to develop. In 1861, the city walls were demolished, and a bridge was built in 1881, connecting Scharloo with

Pietermaai Pietermaai is a neighbourhood and former suburb of Willemstad, on Curaçao, a Lesser Antilles island in the Dutch Caribbean. Pietermaai was founded in 1675, and has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. History Willemstad, the capital of C ...

. From 1870 onwards, wealthy Jewish merchants started to build villas in Scharloo. The hurricane of 1877, which destroyed a large part of the neighbourhood of Pietermaai, accelerated Scharloo's growth and it quickly became the wealthiest part of the city. During the 1960s, Scharloo started to decline with many of its inhabitants moving to the suburbs. In 1999, Scharloo was designated a

Unesco The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

and part of the historic centre of Willemstad. The neighbourhood was renovated in the early 21st century, and many of the villas are now in use as offices or governmental agencies. Scharloo is home to the which is located in a building from 1729, and offers an overview of the maritime history of Curaçao which spans 500 years.

Scharlooweg

Scharlooweg is the main street of the neighbourhood, and has the largest and most luxurious villas of Scharloo. The buildings have been constructed in Spanish style around a

patio A patio (, ; ) is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a structure and is typically paved. In Australia, the term is expanded to include roofed structures such as a veranda, which provides protection from sun ...

with often a fountain in the middle. Bolo di Batrei (Wedding Cake) on Scharlooweg 77 is the most famous building of the street. Elias Salomon Levy Maduro was the son of the founder of S.E.L. Maduro. When Deborah Rebecca, his 18-year-old daughter, got married, the original building was torn down and replaced by a new building with elaborate painted ceilings. On 6 June 1917, the day of the wedding, Bolo di Batrei was given to the newly weds as a present. Nowadays, the building is home to the National Archive of Curaçao.

References

Bibliography

* * {{authority control Populated places in Curaçao Willemstad