1.
The Hague
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
2.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
3.
The Hague Center
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The City Center of The Hague is the oldest and, with a population of 99,283 inhabitants, the second largest of The Hagues eight districts, consisting of nine neighbourhoods. Two railways stations can be found in the city center, Den Haag Centraal en Den Haag Hollands Spoor, the neighbourhood Archipelbuurt / Willemspark was largely built at the end of the 19th century. On the south-west border is a Jewish cemetery that dates back to 1694, later on both the non-denominational and Roman Catholic cemeteries were also situated in this location. The neighbourhood has many avenues and streets with large houses. There are even so-called hofjeswoningen, a form of socialized housing. A lot of the large houses nowadays are used as offices, for example at the Nassauplein, the Koninginnegracht, on the southern border of the Archipelbuurt there are newly built offices, the police headquarters and the Nationale Investeringsbank. The Oude Centrum forms the heart of The Hague, which includes the Binnenhof and Hofvijver, the Noordeinde Palace, the Mauritshuis museum, and the City Hall of The Hague. The history of the old center is reflected in the diversity that can be found in this part of the city center. The Schilderswijk is still one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the Netherlands, unemployment is significant, and many people are dependent of governmental support. In 2006, 70% of the inhabitants of the Schilderswijk had a low income, 25% a middle income, in 3450 residents in 2007 undertook paid employment or self, the magnitude of the potential workforce was in 200822,253. Of all households in the district lived in Painting in 2007 42% of the poverty line from 16% in The Hague, more than 90% of the registered residents are of non-Western origin - notably Turkish, Moroccan and Surinamese. Of the housing stock approximately 25% is privately owned, these homes are often rented, the remaining houses are owned by housing HaagWonen. This street is changed in the Wolterbeek Street, the migration changed the district not only physically but also socially. The response from the community was a community development, welfare. The approach consisted mainly of amenity programs, thus, many such residents to activities funded social cohesion in the area to strengthen. Also, many changes made to the social security and increase the pollution abatement, such as better lighting. Many original buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century were demolished and replaced by new buildings in the 1970s and 1980s in the context of a renewal that started around 1975. The area between Station and Hollands Spoor Rijswijkseplein, for instance, had completely renovated
4.
Count of Holland
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The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf and he received land around Egmond from Charles the Fat at a place called Bladella in 922. This is seen as the beginning of the county of Holland, however, until about 1100, the usual names for the county were West-Friesland, Frisia or Kennemerland, in spite of this the counts from Dirk I onwards are named of Holland. Note that the chronology of the first few counts is uncertain and this third Count Dirk is placed between Dirk I and II and numbered as Dirk I bis to avoid confusion with the already established numbering referring to the other counts of Holland named Dirk. John of Avesnes was a son of Adelaide of Holland, sister of William II of Holland, during the rule of Margaret, her son William V had the real power in the county. He became ruler in his own right as a result of the Hook and he was also Duke of Bavaria-Straubing as William I. This war was won by Philip of Burgundy in 1432. Philip was a nephew of William VI, who had married a daughter of Philip the Bold of Burgundy, in 1432 he forced Jacqueline to abdicate from Hainaut and Holland on his behalf. In 1581, the Estates General of the United Provinces declared themselves independent from the Spanish rule of Philip II. Until the Treaty of Münster in 1648, the kings of Spain still used the title Count of Holland, but they had lost the actual power over the county to the States of Holland. Philip IV, King Philip III of Spain Philip V, King Philip IV of Spain The County remained in existence as a constituent member state of the Dutch Republic until 1795. There were no more Counts however since the Estates of Holland, the Stadtholders, who were servants of the Estates were the de facto Chief-Executives during this period. Counts of Holland family tree A book of 32 plates of the counts of Holland published in Amsterdam in 1663, engraved by Adriaen Matham B. K. S. Dijkstra, Een stamboom in been, Amsterdam 1991
5.
Leiden
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Leiden is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland. Leiden is located on the Oude Rijn, at a distance of some 20 kilometres from The Hague to its south, the recreational area of the Kaag Lakes lies just to the northeast of Leiden. A university city since 1575, Leiden houses Leiden University, the oldest university of the Netherlands, Leiden is a city with a rich cultural heritage, not only in science, but also in the arts. One of the worlds most famous painters, Rembrandt, was born, other famous Leiden painters include Lucas van Leyden, Jan van Goyen and Jan van Steen. The city has one of Europes most prominent scientific centres for more than four centuries. Modern scientific medical research and teaching started in the early 18th century in Leiden with Boerhaave, many important scientific discoveries have been made here, giving rise to Leiden’s motto, ‘City of Discoveries’. It is twinned with Oxford, the location of the United Kingdoms oldest university, Leiden University and Leiden University of Applied Sciences together have around 35,000 students. Leiden is a university city, university buildings are scattered throughout the city. Leiden was formed on a hill at the confluence of the rivers Oude. In the oldest reference to this, from circa 860, the settlement was called Leithon, the name is said to be from Germanic *leitha- canal. Leiden has in the past erroneously been associated with the Roman outpost Lugdunum Batavorum and this particular castellum was thought to be located at the Burcht of Leiden, and the citys name was thought to be derived of the Latin name Lugdunum. However the castellum was in closer to the town of Katwijk. The landlord of Leiden, situated in a stronghold on the hill, was subject to the Bishop of Utrecht. This county got its name in 1101 from a domain near the stronghold, Leiden was sacked in 1047 by Emperor Henry III. Early 13th century, Ada, Countess of Holland took refuge here when she was fighting in a war against her uncle, William I. He besieged the stronghold and captured Ada, Leiden received city rights in 1266. In 1389, its population had grown to about 4,000 persons, burgrave Filips of Wassenaar and the other local noblemen of the Hook faction assumed that the duke would besiege Leiden first and send small units out to conquer the surrounding citadels. But John of Bavaria chose to attack the citadels first and he rolled the cannons with his army but one which was too heavy went by ship
6.
Scheveningen
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Scheveningen, is one of the eight districts of The Hague, as well as a subdistrict of that city. Scheveningen is a seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier. The beach is popular for sports such as windsurfing and kiteboarding. The harbour is used for fishing and tourism. Some local politicians are trying to re-brand Scheveningen to The Hague Beach and this has created problems with the local population that is proud of the name Scheveningen. Initiatives have been launched to teach people all over the world how to pronounce the name properly and it has its own dialect, which is different from The Hague dialect. The earliest reference to the name Sceveninghe goes back to around 1280, the first inhabitants may have been Anglo-Saxons. Other historians favour a Scandinavian origin, fishing was the main source of food and income. The Battle of Scheveningen was fought between English and Dutch fleets off the coast of the village on 10 August 1653, thousands of people gathered on the shore to watch. A road to neighbouring The Hague was constructed in 1663, in 1470, a heavy storm destroyed the church and half the houses. The village was hit by storms in 1570,1775,1825,1860,1881. After this last storm, the decided to build a harbour. Until then, the boats had had a flat bottom. By around 1870, over 150 of these boats were in use, once the harbour had been constructed in 1904, more modern ships replaced the bomschuiten. In 1818, Jacob Pronk constructed a building on a dune near the sea. It marked the start of Scheveningen as a bathing resort, since then, Scheveningen has attracted numerous tourists from all over Europe, notably from Germany. The hotel and restaurant Kurhaus was opened in 1886, the village attracted a number of Dutch artists over the centuries, who painted the bomschuiten drawn up on the beach, or fishermen at work in the North Sea. The International Skating Union was founded in Scheveningen in 1892, nevertheless, Scheveningen always had a strong identity of its own
7.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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Charles V was ruler of both the Spanish Empire from 1516 and the Holy Roman Empire from 1519, as well as of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1506. He voluntarily stepped down from these and other positions by a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556, through inheritance, he brought together under his rule extensive territories in western, central, and southern Europe, and the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia. As a result, his domains spanned nearly four square kilometers and were the first to be described as the empire on which the sun never sets. Charles was the heir of three of Europes leading dynasties, the Houses of Valois-Burgundy, Habsburg, and Trastámara and he inherited the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche-Comté as heir of the House of Valois-Burgundy. From his own dynasty, the Habsburgs, he inherited Austria and he was also elected to succeed his Habsburg grandfather, Maximilian I, as Holy Roman Emperor, a title held by the Habsburgs since 1440. Charles was the first king to rule Castile and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, the personal union, under Charles, of the Holy Roman Empire with the Spanish Empire resulted in the closest Europe would come to a universal monarchy since the death of Louis the Pious. France recovered and the wars continued for the remainder of Charless reign, enormously expensive, they led to the development of the first modern professional army in Europe, the Tercios. The struggle with the Ottoman Empire was fought in Hungary and the Mediterranean, after seizing most of eastern and central Hungary in 1526, the Ottomans’ advance was halted at their failed Siege of Vienna in 1529. A lengthy war of attrition, conducted on his behalf by his younger brother Ferdinand, in the Mediterranean, although there were some successes, Charles was unable to prevent the Ottomans’ increasing naval dominance and the piratical activity of the Barbary Corsairs. Charles opposed the Reformation and in Germany he was in conflict with the Protestant Princes of the Schmalkaldic League who were motivated by religious and political opposition to him. Once the rebellions were quelled the essential Castilian and Burgundian territories remained mostly loyal to Charles throughout his rule, Charles’s Spanish dominions were the chief source of his power and wealth, and they became increasingly important as his reign progressed. In the Americas, Charles sanctioned the conquest by Castillian conquistadors of the Aztec, Castillian control was extended across much of South and Central America. The resulting vast expansion of territory and the flows of South American silver to Castile had profound long term effects on Spain. Charles was only 56 when he abdicated, but after 34 years of rule he was physically exhausted and sought the peace of a monastery. Upon Charles’s abdications, the Holy Roman Empire was inherited by his younger brother Ferdinand, the Spanish Empire, including the possessions in the Netherlands and Italy, was inherited by Charles’s son Philip II. The two empires would remain allies until the 18th century, Charles was born in 1500 as the eldest son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile in the Flemish city of Ghent, which was part of the Habsburg Netherlands. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian Low Countries were an important influence in his early life and he was tutored by William de Croÿ, and also by Adrian of Utrecht. He also gained a decent command of German, though he never spoke it as well as French, a witticism sometimes attributed to Charles is, I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse
8.
Maurice, Prince of Orange
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Maurice of Orange was stadtholder of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince of Orange upon the death of his eldest half-brother Philip William in 1618, Maurice spent his youth in Dillenburg in Nassau, and studied in Heidelberg and Leiden. He succeeded his father William the Silent as stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland in 1585, and became stadtholder of Utrecht, Guelders and Overijssel in 1590, and of Groningen in 1620. As Captain-General and Admiral of the Union, Maurice organised the Dutch rebellion against Spain into a coherent, successful revolt, Maurice set out to revive and revise the classical doctrines of Vegetius and pioneered the new European forms of armament and drill. During the Twelve Years Truce, a dispute broke out in the Republic. After the Truce, Maurice failed to achieve more military victories and he died without legitimate children in The Hague in 1625, and was succeeded by his younger half-brother Frederick Henry. Maurice was a son of William the Silent and Princess Anna of Saxony and was born at the castle of Dillenburg and he was named after his maternal grandfather, the Elector Maurice of Saxony, who was also a noted general. Maurice never married but was the father of children by Margaretha van Mechelen. He was raised in Dillenburg by his uncle Johan of Nassau, together with his cousin Willem Lodewijk he studied in Heidelberg and later in Leiden where he met Simon Stevin. The States of Holland and Zeeland paid for his studies, as their father had run into problems after spending his entire fortune in the early stages of the Dutch revolt. Only 16 when his father was murdered in Delft in 1584, he took over as stadtholder. The monarchs of England and France had been requested to accept sovereignty and this had left Maurice as the only acceptable candidate for the position of Stadtholder. He became stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland in 1585, of Guelders, Overijssel and Utrecht in 1590 and of Groningen, protestant Maurice was preceded as Prince of Orange by his Roman Catholic eldest half-brother Philip William, Prince of Orange, deceased 1618. However, Philip William was in the custody of Spain, remaining so until 1596 and he was appointed captain-general of the army in 1587, bypassing the Earl of Leicester, who returned to England on hearing this news. Maurice organised the rebellion against Spain into a coherent, successful revolt, the Eighty Years War was a challenge to his style, so he could prove himself a good leader by taking several Spanish Outposts. In 1597 he went on an offensive and took Rheinberg, Meurs, Groenlo, Bredevoort, Enschede, Ootmarsum, Oldenzaal. These victories rounded out the borders to the Dutch Republic, solidifying the revolt and they also established Maurice as the foremost general of his time. Many of the generals of the succeeding generation, including his brother Frederick Henry
9.
Dutch Golden Age
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The Dutch Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterized by the Eighty Years War which ended in 1648, the Golden Age continued in peacetime during the Dutch Republic until the end of the century. The Netherlandss transition from a possession of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1590s to the foremost maritime, in 1568, the Seven Provinces that later signed the Union of Utrecht started a rebellion against Philip II of Spain that led to the Eighty Years War. Antwerp fell on August 17,1585 after a siege, the United Provinces fought on until the Twelve Years Truce, which did not end the hostilities. Under the terms of the surrender of Antwerp in 1585, the Protestant population were given four years to settle their affairs before leaving the city, similar arrangements were made in other places. Protestants were especially well-represented among the craftsmen and rich merchants of the port cities of Bruges, Ghent. More moved to the north between 1585 and 1630 than Catholics moved in the direction, although there were also many of these. Many of those moving north settled in Amsterdam, transforming what was a port into one of the most important ports. The Pilgrim Fathers also spent time there before their voyage to the New World, Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O’Rourke contribute part of the Dutch ascendancy to its Calvinistic ethic, which promoted thrift and education. This contributed to the lowest interest rates and the highest literacy rates in Europe, several other factors also contributed to the flowering of trade, industry, the arts and the sciences in the Netherlands during this time. A necessary condition was a supply of energy from windmills and from peat. The invention of the sawmill enabled the construction of a massive fleet of ships for worldwide trading. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was founded and it was the first-ever multinational corporation, financed by shares that established the first modern stock exchange. This company received a Dutch monopoly on Asian trade and would keep this for two centuries and it became the worlds largest commercial enterprise of the 17th century. Spices were imported in bulk and brought huge profits, due to the efforts and risks involved and this is remembered to this day in the Dutch word peperduur, meaning something is very expensive, reflecting the prices of spices at the time. To finance the trade within the region, the Bank of Amsterdam was established in 1609. According to Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O’Rourke, geography favored the Dutch Republic and they write, The foundations were laid by taking advantage of location, midway between the Bay of Biscay and the Baltic. The Dutch share of European shipping tonnage was enormous, well over half during most of the period of their ascendancy, from here the Dutch traded between China and Japan and paid tribute to the Shogun
10.
Lange Voorhout Palace
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Lange Voorhout Palace in The Hague was designed in 1760 by the architect Pieter de Swart for Anthony Patras, a deputee to the States General of the Netherlands. Patras, born in Geneva, was a nephew of governor Abraham Patras, in 1734 Anthony arrived in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. When his uncle, the governor, died in 1737 the young man inherited his fortune, the collection of books. In 1738 he married a daughter of Isaac van Schinne, member of the Council of India, after the 1740 Batavia massacre he returned to the Dutch Republic. In 1743 he tried to become a member of Slotens vroedschap, after two years he suddenly became burgomaster of the Frisian town, succeeding Onno Zwier van Haren. He was a States General representative for this city until his early death. Patras died early and probably lived in his new house on Lange Voorhout. His widow was forced to sell the property in 1778 and in the years it had three different owners. In 1796 the mansion was bought by Archibald Hope, a manager of the Dutch West India Company, Archibald was a cousin of Henry Hope and Jan Hope and involved in the family banking business. Napoleon and his wife on their travels through the First French Empire used it one night, the inventory was sold in December 1821 and lasted more than two weeks. The building was bought by Renaud Diederick James de Ginkell, 7th Earl of Athlone, in 1831 the Minister of Foreign Affairs Johan Gijsbert Verstolk van Soelen moved in. He had a collection of Dutch art which was sold after his death. In 1848 it was bought by Prince Henry, after his death in 1879 his widow Princess Marie of Prussia used the palace and probably lived there till 1885. Princess Sophie of the Netherlands inherited the palace and in 1896 Queen Emma bought it from her sister-in-law and she had it renovated and rebuilt before moving in the palace in 1901. Like prince Henry queen-mother Emma used the palace as a winter palace, the palace was used as an office for Wilhelmina, Juliana and till 1984 for Beatrix. In 1991, princess Juliana sold the building to the municipality of The Hague on condition that it would only be used for cultural activities, the Hague Museum held exhibitions of the works of Rodin, Frida Kahlo and Venetian glass. Since November 2002 the mansion is used for the permanent M. C, Escher exhibition called Escher in Het Paleis. Media related to Paleis Lange Voorhout at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Renaissance architecture
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Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the style was carried to France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact. Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance, the scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about, Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose. Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery, Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the area that surrounded them and this enabled Florence to have significant artistic influence in Milan, and through Milan, France. Successive Popes, especially Julius II, 1503–13, sought to extend the Pope’s temporal power throughout Italy, in the early Renaissance, Venice controlled sea trade over goods from the East. Trade brought wool from England to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, by dominating Pisa, Florence gained a seaport, and also maintained dominance of Genoa. In this commercial climate, one family in particular turned their attention from trade to the business of money-lending. The Medici became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes themselves as they did so, along the trade routes, and thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists, scientists and philosophers. This commenced in the mid 15th century and gained momentum in the 16th century, the construction of the Sistine Chapel with its uniquely important decorations and the entire rebuilding of St Peters, one of Christendoms most significant churches, were part of this process. In wealthy republican Florence, the impetus for church-building was more civic than spiritual, the unfinished state of the enormous cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary did no honour to the city under her patronage. The dome inspired further religious works in Florence, through Humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the marks of citizenship. Some major ecclesiastical building works were commissioned, not by the church. During the Renaissance, architecture became not only a question of practice, printing played a large role in the dissemination of ideas. The first treatise on architecture was De re aedificatoria by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450 and it was to some degree dependent on Vitruviuss De architectura, a manuscript of which was discovered in 1414 in a library in Switzerland. De re aedificatoria in 1485 became the first printed book on architecture, Sebastiano Serlio produced the next important text, the first volume of which appeared in Venice in 1537, it was entitled Regole generali darchitettura. It is known as Serlios Fourth Book since it was the fourth in Serlios original plan of a treatise in seven books, in all, five books were published
12.
Rijksmonument
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A rijksmonument is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. To be designated, a place must be over 50 years old, there are around 51,000 designated rijksmonuments in the Netherlands. The program was started during the Hague Convention in 1954, the current legislation governing the monuments is the Monumentenwet van 1988. The organization responsible for caring for the monuments, which used to be called Monumentenzorg, was recently renamed, and is now called Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. In June 2009, the Court of The Hague decided that individual purchasers of buildings that were listed as rijksmonuments would be exempt from paying transfer tax, previously this exemption had only applied to legal entities. Many Dutch tourist attractions are rijksmonuments, such as castles or windmills, among the rijksmonuments are also many churches. A provincial monument is a monument designated by a province, in the Netherlands there are only two provinces that assign monuments, North Holland and Drenthe. The designation allows the provinces to protect the monuments and are a base for the regulation of subsidy for restoring the monuments, a municipal monument is a monuments designated by a municipality. A municipal monument is not of importance but it is important for the region or city/village. List of Rijksmonuments List of heritage registers Monumentenregister, official database of heritage sites Monumenten. nl
13.
Kloosterkerk, The Hague
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The Kloosterkerk is a church on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague, Netherlands. The church and its monastery were first built in 1397. The church is today as the church where Beatrix of the Netherlands occasionally attends services. Origins of the monastery and church that occupied this site may be found in the Dominican Order. Reforms undertaken by Raymond of Capua, brought a growth to the order. A thriving new center of arts was established in The Hague by the Court of Albrecht of Bavaria, from December 1399 Dirc van Delf was among the court of the Duke Albrecht of Bavaria in The Hague. There he had the function of court chaplain, but he lectured at German universities, such as Cologne. In 1420 a fire raged through the monastery, but serious renovations are not recorded until the southern transept was added in the beginning of the 16th century. The church was expanded around 1540 with an aisle and side chapels. The center barrel vaulted aisle is 20 meters high and 11.5 meters wide, the worship space became a pilgrimage church, where people could visit and pass through, while services were being held in the central aisle or nave. At this time the church was dedicated to St. Vincent. It was stripped of Catholic decorations during the beeldenstorm, a number of monks lived on for a few more years, but in 1574 the last few monks left. After being abandoned for 12 years, the church had deteriorated, in 1588 a cavalry company seeking shelter settled in the former church. The following year the church and choir were made into a foundry for the States of Holland. The choir was used as a foundry and the served as a munition store with the two walled off from each other. On November 3,1690, the ammunition stored in the church exploded leaving only one wall of the monastery remaining, the monastery then temporarily served as a hospital. In 1583 most of the monastery was demolished, though the church remained, a part of the building became a church again in 1617 after Remonstrants had successfully squatted it. In 1617 it was split when a conflict over Arminianism erupted, a great debate ensued between political and religious authorities
14.
Supreme Court of the Netherlands
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The Supreme Court of the Netherlands is one of the highest courts of the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Aruba. The Court was established on 1 October 1838 and sits in The Hague, the Court has exclusive final jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters. The Court is a court of cassation, which means that it has the competence to quash or affirm rulings of lower courts and it only considers whether the lower courts applied the law correctly and the rulings have sufficient reasoning. In so doing it establishes case law, according to Article 120 of the Constitution, courts may not rule on the constitutionality of laws passed by the States General and treaties. With the exception of constitutional Court of Sint Maarten courts have no competence for judicial review with respect to the Constitution. The Supreme Court currently consists of 36 judges, a president,6 vice-presidents,25 justices and 4 justices in exceptional service, all judges are appointed for life, until they retire at their own request or mandatorily at the age of 70. The development of cassation in the Netherlands was heavily influenced by the French during the Batavian Revolution at the end of 18th century, in the Netherlands a case is first heard by one of the ten district courts. Afterwards, either side may appeal to one of the four courts of appeal, finally, either party may file a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court. Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by decree, chosen from a list of three, advised by the House of Representatives on the advice of the Court itself. The justices are, like every other judge in the Netherlands, appointed for life, upon reaching the age of 60, a justice may change status to exceptional service, with the effect that the justice no longer plays a full role at the Court. The Supreme Court is divided into four chambers, the first or civil chamber, the second or criminal chamber, the third or tax chamber, the members of the fourth chamber are chosen ad hoc, but will include the President of the Court. As of January 2016, the first three chambers are composed as follows, During the German occupation, the Supreme Court kept functioning, in November 1940 the occupiers forced the president, Judge L. E. Visser, to resign because he was Jewish. The members who remained also signed a declaration about Aryans. After the liberation, people reproached the Court for a weak, the Court wished above all to guarantee the continuity of its jurisdiction and not to become involved in politics. However such chances as there were to take a stand on principle against the Germans were largely missed, the Justices either omitted to give a moral example or felt they were not in a position to do so. In this the Supreme Court followed the advice of the barrister-general A. Rombach, the judgment concerned a case in which a man was sentenced by the economic judge for an economic offence. The counsel for the accused, P, when the Supreme Court denied the possibility of contesting rules issued by the German government, the Netherlands followed what was the rule in Germany and Italy too. On the basis of two emergency measures Hitler had the authority to issue incontestable rules, and the legal establishment acknowledged not it was not allowed to challenge political measures, political in this case was what the political authorities considered to be political
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Escher Museum
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The Escher Museum is a museum in The Hague, Netherlands, featuring the works of the Dutch graphical artist M. C. It is housed in the Lange Voorhout Palace since November 2002, the museum is housed in the Lange Voorhout Palace, a former royal residence dating back to the eighteenth century. Queen Emma bought the house in 1896. She used it as a palace from March 1901 till her death in March 1934. It was used by four subsequent Dutch queens for their business offices, the first and second floors have exhibitions showing the royal period of the palace, highlighting Queen Emmas residence. The museum features a permanent display of a number of woodcuts. Escher, among them the world-famous prints, Air and Water, Belvedere, Waterfall and this one is shown in a circle. It underlines the new vision of the museum on the work of M. C, in the rooms of the museum are fifteen chandeliers made by the Rotterdam artist, Hans van Bentem. The artist designed these especially for the museum, with references to the work of Escher. In the ballroom, a star chandelier is reflected in the two mirrors. In other rooms there are such as a shark, a skull, spiders. The parquet floor in the Palace was designed in 1991/92 by the American minimal artist Donald Judd on the occasion of the opening of the former Royal palace as an exhibition palace, Judd applied the principle of different colours and geometric patterns to the parquet floor in the Palace
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Pulchri Studio
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Pulchri Studio is a Dutch art society, art institution and art studio based in The Hague, Netherlands. This institute began in 1847 at the home of painter Lambertus Hardenberg, since 1893 the club has its residence in the white villa at Lange Voorhout 15 in The Hague. There are accepted as members artistically working members and art lovers, the members will be selected from a given by the general committee. An artist membership allows to exhibit his own works in the galleries of the Company and these so-called sales exhibitions have passed since the founding of the association until today integral part of this institution. Art lovers have to be invited by other members, the association leases its properties even to nonmembers, too. The artists wanted to be far away from the requirements of art. The model was the successful artist colony of Barbizon south of Paris in the forest of Fontainebleau, the unaltered life of the people and the unspoilt polders and the North Sea coast played an important role. They wanted to be far away from the beginning in the Netherlands industrialisation in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, following the abolition of the patronage for artist they were searching for a new way. The city of s-Gravenhage with its surroundings and the landscape of the North Sea at Scheveningen became attractive for young painters. In 1847 with the establishment of the association Pulchri Studio such a new approach has been emerged and these artists association is a typical Dutch development. It stands in the continuation of the tradition of the old academies of the 17th and 18th centuries, a special role has played gatherings, which were called art considerations. They offered the artists the opportunity to present their own works the other members and this way of handling the works creators as an Apprentice with other artists as Master has been the guarantee of the success of the Hague School. The location served as a studio and workshop, right at the beginning this cooperative had no exhibition rooms. Alternatively the painters participated in the two or three-yearly Exhibition of Living Masters, – In 1882, Vincent van Gogh participated in such an art appreciation along with Bosboom and Henkes. The location had the function of the contact to the native population. It wasnt only a place of social encounter, but at the time it offered to the artists the opportunity to communicate with collectors and dealers. Among the founding members of Pulchri has been Lambertus Hardenberg, Willem Roelofs, Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, in 1847, Van Hove has been the first chairman of the artists association. Short time later King Willem II. took over the patronage, a short time later Johannes Bosboom, Jozef Israels, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Jan Weissenbruch and some lesser-known artists joined Pulchri
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Embassy of the United Kingdom, The Hague
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The Embassy of the United Kingdom in The Hague is the chief diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Embassy is located on one of the most famous streets in the Netherlands, Lange Voorhout, the current British Ambassador to the Netherlands is Sir Geoffrey Adams. Outside The Hague, there is also a British Consulate General in Amsterdam where the officer is known as the Consul-General. The Embassy and Consulate General also represent the British Overseas Territories in the Netherlands, netherlands–United Kingdom relations List of diplomatic missions in the Netherlands List of diplomats of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands
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Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
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Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
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Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
