The Hague

Brief Information

The Hague grew out of a count’s residence, but for a long time it was not a full-fledged city in terms of status. The Binnenhof now stands on the site of the early castle, and next to it the main key to the city’s origins remains: power took root here earlier than city walls and municipal rights. Because it lacked fortifications, The Hague was easily occupied and ravaged during the Eighty Years’ War, and it received official city status only in 1806.

This peculiarity helps one read The Hague not as an ordinary capital with a single center, but as a place where the court, the government, and international courts were layered onto a former residence by the sea. Amsterdam remained the capital, but the government, parliament, and royal court are located here; this also explains the modern image of The Hague as a city of courts and diplomacy.

What to notice right away

It makes sense to compare the Binnenhof, the Hofvijver, and the Knights’ Hall. The castle was built on the shore of a dune lake, so the pond beside the palace complex is not a decorative accident, but part of the old arrangement of the residence. The Knights’ Hall, which later received this name in the 19th century, is important not only as a large building: the original description highlights its gilded roof and two towers, that is, signs of comital power preserved in the appearance of the complex.

Another layer can be read through the absence of fortress walls. The Hague was surrounded with canals in order to begin fortifications, but the defensive works were never completed; therefore the city expanded differently from a classic fortified city. Finally, the coastal part shows that The Hague is connected not only with the offices of power: the city has three main beaches, and Scheveningen grew on the territory of a former fishing village where the harbor is located. One city connects a residence, unfinished defenses, and the seaward edge.