The Maarten van Rossumhuis - Arnhem

Charles of Gelre's notorious general, Maarten van Rossum (1490-1555), was ruthless as a soldier, but he also had a very artistic side.

From his war booty, he had a beautiful house built in Arnhem opposite the St. Eusebius Church. The canons of St. Eusebius were very interested in what their new neighbor was having built. When they saw the drawings they were excited and let it be known that it would really be something for them later. They would have been better off not doing that. Maarten van Rossum asked, "Would you want to live in hell then? The monastics did not understand him. 'I didn't want to tire you with all the details, but in those alcoves come devils, hellhounds and werewolves. And because the road to hell is so wide I will line the road between my house and the church with silver guldens.'

The latter never materialized, presumably because Martin knew that those guldens would soon be gone. But the devils, hellhounds and werewolves did come. And that is why the Maarten van Rossum house is also called the devil's house. It served as Arnhem's city hall until 1944.