What major city in Europe would not have churches and palaces?

During the Middle Ages, the Netherlands was a bastion of Catholicism. However, from the end of the 1500s, Calvinism took hold with Protestant opposition to Spanish Catholic rule. There was the Iconoclastic Riots of 1566 when the decorations of Catholic Churches were destroyed and lost forever. And in the early 1600, when a blind eye – in return for payment – resulted in clandestine churches.

Formerly the town hall, the Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace) is still used by the Dutch Royal Family. Designed by Jacob van Campen, the neo-classical sandstone building began construction in 1648.