Hague skyline including the 'Lemon Press' & 'The Tits'! Since Holland is so near and so connected with Britain historically, but an almost undiscovered country for me, I was very pleased to fly to Schiphol a few weeks back for a quick guided tour around the Royal city – The Hague.
February must be one of the least favourable times to show off most locations, but local guide Remco Dorr did a great job in communicating his affection for his home town. On the subject of guides: a qualified guide is really worth his or her hire in my opinion – you benefit from all kinds of interesting nuggets of knowledge as you sail past sights that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. I find audio-guides overwhelming, just too much information (the only exception, I’ve found so far, being the one at the Palace of Versailles, where it perfectly times your walk through the rooms). I’d much rather hear anecdotal stories from a walking talking guide.
February must be one of the least favourable times to show off most locations, but local guide Remco Dorr did a great job in communicating his affection for his home town. On the subject of guides: a qualified guide is really worth his or her hire in my opinion – you benefit from all kinds of interesting nuggets of knowledge as you sail past sights that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. I find audio-guides overwhelming, just too much information (the only exception, I’ve found so far, being the one at the Palace of Versailles, where it perfectly times your walk through the rooms). I’d much rather hear anecdotal stories from a walking talking guide.
Model of the Cheese Market, Alkmaar The Hague has a miniature city on a scale of 1:25, Madurodam, an entertaining visit for families with young children. It originated after the Second World War, when a local woman who was looking for a way to fundraise for children suffering from TB, thought of emulating the model villages popular in England as a visitor attraction. She found a sponsor, the Maduro family, whose son George, a Jewish law student from Curaçao and fighter with the Dutch resistance, had died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945.
Local stork boards Stena Line ferry! Since those days, Madurodam has been updated and now has lots of interactive water features that were keeping small children very happy the day we visited! Our guide pointed out that the town square of Alkmaar, where cheese has been weighed and traded for centuries, was also used for weighing suspected witches, who were then dunked in the adjacent canal. If they floated, they were deemed guilty and subsequently drowned.
Model of the Peace Palace The Hague’s Peace Palace, opened on August 28, 1913, benefited from a donation of 1½ million dollars made by the great philanthropist Andrew Carnegie towards its construction. Its aim was to provide a symbolic home for the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a court created to end war, and today, the International Court of Justice. Even the building is a symbol of international co-operation: the architect Chardonnier was French, the bricks and gardens were donated by the Dutch, the gates by Belgium, the marble by Italy, the silk for furnishings by Japan, and the wall around it by Germany.
Scheveningen, a fishing village originally, whose name derives from the Anglo-Saxon for “looking out over” (the water) is the seaside face of The Hague. The fisherwives were famed for their muscular arms (extra money earned lifting the middle-class visitors in and out of their bathing-wagons) and loud voices. Widows and orphans were daily thrown fish which hadn’t sold. The fishing boats were built flat and wide to hold their cargo (reminiscent of old Thames barges I’ve seen moored at Maldon, Essex) but were dangerously unstable for rough seas, and extremely heavy to pull up onto the beach.
Guide at the Panorama explains perspective The artist Mesdag and his workshop created a marvellous panorama painting of the village and long beach of Scheveningen in the 19th century, which has been renovated and can still be viewed locally. Around 1818, the village started to become fashionable as a bathing resort, particularly favoured by Russians and Germans.
If you were planning a stroll along the promenade at Scheveningen (we spotted ships on the horizon, ready to enter the container port of Rotterdam, our guide Remco pointed out that they wait out at sea until the prices for their cargoes are most favourable), you might like to follow your walk with a visit to the Kurhaus for an elegant afternoon tea under its spectacular domed ceiling. The hotel was built on the former site of the first wooden bathing house, and hosted some famous concert artists in its glory days including Bing Crosby, Vladimir Horowitz, Duke Ellington, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Marlene Dietrich and the Rolling Stones.
If you were planning a stroll along the promenade at Scheveningen (we spotted ships on the horizon, ready to enter the container port of Rotterdam, our guide Remco pointed out that they wait out at sea until the prices for their cargoes are most favourable), you might like to follow your walk with a visit to the Kurhaus for an elegant afternoon tea under its spectacular domed ceiling. The hotel was built on the former site of the first wooden bathing house, and hosted some famous concert artists in its glory days including Bing Crosby, Vladimir Horowitz, Duke Ellington, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Marlene Dietrich and the Rolling Stones.
Remco Dorr at the Gemeente Museum And then there’s the art. The Mauritshuis is due to re-open on 27 June after renovation, but its ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is still away on tour (Martin and I judiciously avoided the massive queue for it in New York in December!). Meanwhile the collection has been given a foster home by the Gemeente Museum of Modern Art. We toured the old masters with an excellent guide, who wisely selected just a few paintings to stop by and illuminate us on their place in art history. Among these were Hans Holbein the Younger’s portrait of Robert Cheseman, who was Henry VIII’s Head Falconer (these and four other Holbeins are the only ones in the Netherlands, and were brought over by William and Mary from England, another example of art which might be a candidate for return to its original home!); Henrik Avercamp’s beautiful ‘On The Ice’, Johannes Vermeer’s ‘View of Delft’, which features a fantastically painted light breeze on the water, and Peter Paul Rubens’ ‘Old Woman and a Boy with Candles’. Deserving particular mention, two marvellous Rembrandts – ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Nicholaes Tulp’, one of the artist’s first big commissions when he was in his 20s, and a late ‘Self-Portrait’. Rembrandt died in 1669.He was poor, completely out of fashion, and by then had lost his wife and only surviving son.
We went on to the Gemeente Museum itself, and again were expertly guided through a succession of paintings from the Impressionists Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet etc. through to the Expressionists, Egon Schiele and Kandinsky. We also viewed some mid and late 20th century works by Piet Mondrian, Francis Bacon and Bruce Naumann. The final rooms featured artists such as Germany’s Anselm Kiefer and the Cobra artists. The Museum itself, a striking yellow-brick geometric structure, is the work of the influential Dutch architect, HP Berlage, who designed it to make maximum use of natural light.
Lastly, we visited the Escher Museum, particularly exciting for me as I’ve been a huge fan of Escher for many years. It was fantastic to see so many of his original works in one place, and the experience was heightened by the setting in a beautiful old Royal Palace. Its enthusiastic director has taken steps to make the most of this – as you go through the museum you are also informed about the former residential use of each room, and a series of stunning chandeliers which were commissioned from Rotterdam artist Hans Van Bentem. The third floor is dedicated to the optical illusion aspects of Escher’s works and there are some fun interactive exhibits for younger visitors.
Lastly, we visited the Escher Museum, particularly exciting for me as I’ve been a huge fan of Escher for many years. It was fantastic to see so many of his original works in one place, and the experience was heightened by the setting in a beautiful old Royal Palace. Its enthusiastic director has taken steps to make the most of this – as you go through the museum you are also informed about the former residential use of each room, and a series of stunning chandeliers which were commissioned from Rotterdam artist Hans Van Bentem. The third floor is dedicated to the optical illusion aspects of Escher’s works and there are some fun interactive exhibits for younger visitors.
Chandelier at MC Escher in Het Paleis We rounded off our trip with a visit to the Van Kleef Distillery, where we had a very amusing talk given by Fleur about the origins of the genever (gin basically) industry and its relationship with local culture, plus some tasty drinks and eats – those assembled rather more bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked and voluble by the time we left!
I certainly hope to visit The Hague again. We heard a lot about the sharp division between the ‘posh’ side of town and the other side of the tracks, and being generally more interested in dustbinmen than duchesses, I’d love to explore some its working-class history and culture, especially its Jewish heritage.
I certainly hope to visit The Hague again. We heard a lot about the sharp division between the ‘posh’ side of town and the other side of the tracks, and being generally more interested in dustbinmen than duchesses, I’d love to explore some its working-class history and culture, especially its Jewish heritage.
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