Cathedral of St Bavo

The Cathedral of Saint Bavo is a cathedral in Haarlem, the Netherlands, built with the aid of Joseph Cuypers from 1895 to 1930 to replace the previous waterstaatskerk inside the Jansstraat called the St. Joseph. That church became itself a alternative for the Sint Bavokerk, that had been converted to Protestantism from Catholicism in 1578.

The Cathedral of Saint Bavo now serves as the primary cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haarlem Amsterdam. Within the Cathedral, the former sacristy has been converted into a small museum containing ancient artefacts from Haarlem's Catholic beyond. Since 1853 the church of St. Joseph served as a cathedral but it proved to be too small nearly immediately, regardless of enlargements. Bishop Gaspard Bottemanne began the planning for building a new cathedral in 1893, which become to serve as a cathedral as well as a parish church. The original purpose became to ask Pierre Cuypers to layout the church, and it's possible he even made a first layout, however due to his age his son, Joseph Cuypers, have become the architect alternatively.