The Hague

The area was part of the Roman province of Germania Inferior and was close to the border of the empire, the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes. In 1997, four Roman milestones were discovered at Wateringse Veld. The originals are in the "Museon" museum. The milestones indicate the distance from the nearest Roman city, Forum Hadriani (modern Voorburg), and can be dated to the reign of the emperors Antoninus Pius (138-161; the column is dated 151), Caracalla (211–217), Gordian III (238–244), and Decius (249–251).

The Binnenhof at the Hofvijver, 1625

Street in The Hague by Sybrand van Beest, c. 1650, Royal Castle in Warsaw

Little is known about the origin of The Hague. There are no contemporary documents describing it, and later sources are often of dubious reliability. What is certain is that The Hague was founded by the last counts of the House of Holland. Floris IV already owned two residences in the area, but presumably purchased a third court situated by the present-day Hofvijver in 1229, previously owned by a woman called Meilendis. Presumably, Floris IV intended to rebuild the court into a large castle, but he died in a tournament in 1234, before anything was built.[13] His son and successor William II lived in the court, and after he was elected King of the Romans in 1248, he promptly returned to The Hague, and had builders turn the court into a "royal palace" (regale palacium), which would later be called the Binnenhof ("Inner Court"). He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished during the reign of his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal ("Knights' Hall"), still intact, is the most prominent.[14][15] It is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onward, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative center and residence when in Holland.

The village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Die Haghe in a charter dating from 1242. It became the primary residence of the Counts of Holland in 1358 and thus became the seat of many government institutions. This status allowed the village to grow; by the Late Middle Ages, it had grown to the size of a city, although it did not receive city rights.[11] In its early years, the village was in the ambacht, or rural district, of Monster, which was governed by the Lord of Monster. Seeking to exercise more direct control over the village, however, the Count split the village off and created a separate ambacht called Haagambacht, governed directly by the Counts of Holland. The territory of Haagambacht was considerably expanded during the reign of Floris V.[16]

When the House of Burgundy inherited the counties of Holland and Zeeland in 1432, they appointed a stadtholder to rule in their stead with the States of Holland and West Friesland as an advisory council. Although their seat was in The Hague, the city became subordinate to more important centres of government such as Brussels and Mechelen, from where the sovereigns ruled over the increasingly centralised Burgundian Netherlands.[11]

At the beginning of the Eighty Years' War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, as it allowed Spanish troops to easily occupy the town. In 1575, the States of Holland, temporarily based in Delft, even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William the Silent. In 1588, The Hague became the permanent seat of the States of Holland as well as the States General of the Dutch Republic.[17] 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.

The Old City Hall of The Hague around 1900

In 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, the settlement was granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte.[18] 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, while the government was situated in The Hague. When the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. Many streets were specifically built for the large number of civil servants employed in the country's government and for the Dutchmen who were retiring from the administration of the Netherlands East Indies. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903 and completely in 1923.[19]

The city sustained heavy damage during World War II. Many Jews were killed during the German occupation. Additionally, the Atlantic Wall was built through the city, causing a large quarter to be torn down by the Nazi occupants. On 3 March 1945, the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the Bezuidenhout quarter. The target was an installation of V-2 rockets in the nearby Haagse Bos park, but because of navigational errors, the bombs fell on a heavily populated and historic part of the city.[20] The bombardment wreaked widespread destruction in the area[21] and caused 511 fatalities.[22]

Because of uncertainty about what to do after the destructions of the bombing, nobody attempted to plan a reconstruction of Bezuidenhout. In 1962, David Jokinen saw an opportunity to put an end to the situation where two main stations each served only part of the rail traffic. The Jokinen Plan included the intent to demolish the Staatsspoor Station entirely, with Hollands Spoor becoming the central station. Jokinen's plan sparked fierce discussions. The plan was not implemented, in part because it was only presented when decision-making had finally reached an advanced stage. In the site of the Staatsspoor station now stands the Den Haag Centraal railway station.

The Ministry of Justice and Security building, opened in 2012

After the war, The Hague became at one time the largest building site in Europe. The city expanded massively to the southwest, and the destroyed areas were quickly rebuilt. The population peaked at 600,000 inhabitants around 1965. In the 1970s and 1980s, mostly white middle-class families moved to neighbouring towns such as Voorburg, Leidschendam, Rijswijk and (most of all) Zoetermeer. This led to the traditional pattern of an impoverished inner city and more prosperous suburbs. Attempts to include parts of these municipalities in the city of The Hague were highly controversial. In the 1990s, with the consent of the Dutch Parliament, The Hague annexed fairly large areas from neighbouring towns as well as from not even bordering ones, on which the complete new residential areas were built and are still being built.

The Hague experiences a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) similar to almost all of the Netherlands. Because of its location on the coast, it experiences milder winters and cooler summers than more inland locations. However, because of its location, it can also be extremely windy in the winter and humid in the summer. It also gets more sunshine.

City life concentrates around the Hofvijver and the Binnenhof, where the States General of the Netherlands is located. Because of its history, the historical inner city of The Hague differs in various aspects from the nearby smaller cities of Leiden and Delft. It does not have a cramped inner city, bordered by canals and walls. Instead, it has some small streets in the town centre that may be dated from the late Middle Ages and several spacious streets boasting large and luxurious 18th-century residences built for diplomats and affluent Dutch families. It has a large church dating from the 15th century, a City Hall (built as such) from the 16th century, several large 17th-century palaces, a 17th-century Protestant church built in what was then a modern style, and many important 18th-century buildings.

The Hofvijver and the buildings housing the States General of the Netherlands

View of the Hoftoren (left) and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (the triangular gable right)

The city is becoming more student-friendly with the introduction of a new campus in 2012 of Leiden University as well as Leiden University College The Hague, which was established in 2010. The Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Royal Academy of Art are also located there, as well as The Hague University, a vocational university and a branch of The Open University of the Netherlands. The city has many civil servants and diplomats.[27] In fact, the number and variety of foreign residents (especially the expatriates) make the city quite culturally diverse, with many foreign pubs, shops and cultural events.

The Hague is the largest Dutch city on the North Sea and includes two distinct beach resorts. The main beach resort Scheveningen, in the northwestern part of the city, is a popular destination for tourists as well as for inhabitants. With 10 million visitors a year, it is the most popular beach town in the Benelux area. Kijkduin, in the southwest, is The Hague's other beach resort. It is significantly smaller and attracts mainly local residents.

The former Dutch colony of the East Indies, now Indonesia, has left its mark on The Hague. Since the 19th century, high-level civil servants from the Dutch East Indies often spent long-term leave and vacations in The Hague. Many streets are named after places in the Netherlands East Indies (as well as other former Dutch colonies such as Suriname) and there is a sizable "Indo" (i.e. mixed Dutch-Indonesian) community. Since the loss of these Dutch possessions in December 1949, "Indo people" also known as "Indische people" often refer to The Hague as "the Widow of the Indies".[28]

The older parts of the town have many characteristically wide and long streets. Houses are generally low-rise (often not more than three floors). A large part of the southwestern city was planned by the progressive Dutch architect H.P. Berlage about 1910. This 'Plan Berlage' decided the spacious and homely streets for several decades. In World War II, a large amount of the western portion of The Hague was destroyed by the Germans. Afterward, modernist architect W.M. Dudok planned its renewal, putting apartment blocks for the middle class in open park-like settings.

The layout of the city is more spacious than other Dutch cities and because of the incorporation of large and old nobility estates, the creation of various parks, and the use of green zones around natural streams, it is a much more green city than any other in the Netherlands. That is, excepting some medieval close-knitted streets in the centre. The Hague has a canal system around the old city center, which is mainly used for boat tours around the city. Most of the canals were drained in the late 19th century and some were filled between 1910 and 1970[29] but many have been restored recently.

The tallest buildings of The Hague are both 146-meter-tall ministries of Justice and Security and the Interior and Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands, designed by Hans Kollhoff. Other significant skyscrapers include the Hoftoren, Het Strijkijzer and De Kroon.

43% of the population of The Hague has two parents that were born in the Netherlands, while 15.6% has at least one parent who was born abroad in a "western" country, and 34.4% has at least one parent that was born in a "non-western" country.[35]

Just under half of The Hague's population identifies with a religious group. The two most popular religions are Christianity (29%) and Islam (14.1%). Religiosity is higher among people with a recent migration background from Indonesia, Turkey, Morocco and Surinam. Islam is the most common religion among people with a Turkish or Moroccan migration background. Among people of Surinamese heritage there is more religious diversity, with Hinduism being the most common. Of The Hague's native Dutch population, most religious people adhere to Christianity. Just under 40% of the population of The Hague regularly attends a house of worship.[37]

The Hague City Hall

As of the 2022 municipal election, the municipal council of The Hague contains thirteen parties, most notably the local Heart for The Hague (HvDH; 9 seats), Democrats 66 (D66; 8 seats), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD; 7 seats) and GroenLinks (5 seats).[38]

Since 2019, the municipal executive has comprised VVD, D66, GroenLinks, CDA and PvdA. The chairman of the college is Mayor Jan van Zanen (VVD), and the city has eight aldermen: Anne Mulder, Kavita Parbhudayal (both VVD), Robert van Asten, Saskia Bruines (both D66), Liesbeth van Tongeren, Bert van Alphen (both GroenLinks), Hilbert Bredemeijer (CDA) and Martijn Balster (PvdA). Each alderman is responsible for a number of particular policy areas and one of the city's eight districts.[39]

On 1 October 2019, the National Department of Criminal Investigation (Rijksrecherche) performed a raid on the homes and offices of then-aldermen Richard de Mos and Rachid Guernaoui, as part of an investigation of alleged administrative corruption, bribery and violation of confidentiality. The offices of several municipal civil servants and the homes of three entrepreneurs were also searched for the investigation. The aldermen were suspected of receiving bribes in exchange for granting permits.[40] In April 2023, De Mos and Guernaoui were acquitted of all charges.[41][42][43]

The Peace Palace houses the International Court of Justice and Permanent Court of Arbitration amongst other institutions.

International Criminal Court

Meeting in the Hall of Knights during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948)

The Hague is home to many different international judicial bodies, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT). It houses Scheveningen Prison, the ICC's detention center for those suspected of war crimes and other violations of international law.[44] The Hague is the fourth major centre for the United Nations, after New York, Geneva and Vienna.[45]

The foundation of The Hague as an "international city of peace and justice" started at the end of the 19th century, when the first global peace conference took place in The Hague on Tobias Asser's initiative, with a second one a few years later. A direct result of these meetings was the establishment of the world's first organisation for the settlement of international disputes, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). Shortly thereafter, the Scottish-American millionaire Andrew Carnegie made the necessary funds available to build the Peace Palace to house the PCA. After the establishment of the League of Nations, The Hague became the seat of the Permanent Court of International Justice, which was replaced (after World War II) by the UN's International Court of Justice. The establishments of the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal (1981), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1993), and the International Criminal Court (2002) in the city further consolidated its role as a centre for international legal arbitration. Most recently, on 1 March 2009, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a UN tribunal to investigate and prosecute suspects in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, opened in the former headquarters of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service in Leidschendam, a town within the greater area of The Hague.

Other major international and European organisations based in The Hague include:

• Europol, European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation
• Eurojust, European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation
• Europeana, European Union digital platform for cultural heritage.
• The Hague Academy of International Law, centre for high-level education in both public and private international law
• Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), the oldest and preeminent private international law harmonisation institution
• International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP)
• European Patent Office
• Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
• NATO Communications and Information Agency, (NCI Agency)
• Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
• The European Library[46]

Many academic institutions in the fields of international relations, international law, and international development are based in The Hague. The Hague Academic Coalition (HAC) is a consortium of those institutions.

Its member institutions are:

• Carnegie Foundation
• Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law (HiiL)
• International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam
• Leiden University College The Hague
• Netherlands Institute of International Relations 'Clingendael'
• The Hague Academy of International Law
• The Hague University of Applied Sciences
• T.M.C. Asser Instituut

In 1948, the Congress of Europe was held with 750 delegates from 26 European governments, providing them with the opportunity to discuss ideas about the development of European integration, which eventually culminated in the creation of the modern-day European Union.

ADO Den Haag Stadium

The city's major football club is ADO Den Haag, which competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. ADO Den Haag has won the KNVB Cup twice and won the League twice in the era before professional football. They play their matches at the 15,000 seat ADO Den Haag Stadium. Amateur team HVV are also based in the city. Before the professional era, the club won 10 national titles and one KNVB Cup, and they remain fourth in the all-time list of national title winners.[52] HBS Craeyenhout is another amateur club in the city, which won three national titles before the establishment of the Eredivisie.[52] On 13 May 2021, football club ADO Den Haag was relegated from the Eredivisie as they lost their final game of the season against Willem II. In effect, ADO Den Haag no longer holds a position in the top division of professional Dutch football.[53]

Since 2020, the basketball club The Hague Royals plays in the professional Dutch Basketball League (DBL). Home games are played at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark.

The local rugby union team is Haagsche Rugby Club (a.k.a. HRC). The ice hockey team is HYS The Hague and the local American Football team is Den Haag Raiders '99.

Darts is another sport played in The Hague; its popularity was increased by Raymond van Barneveld winning several World Championships.

The half-marathon race CPC Loop Den Haag is held annually in The Hague. In 1994, The Hague held the FEI World Equestrian Games.

Koningsdag, or King's Day, is held annually on 27 April. It is traditionally celebrated with fairs and flea markets throughout the city. On this day, the colour orange predominates at a funfair (which sells orange cotton candy) and scores of informal street markets. The day is a vrijmarkt (literally "free market"), which means no licence is needed for street vending; children traditionally use this day to sell old unwanted toys. Since King's Day is a national holiday and thus a day off, many people also go out and party on the evening before King's Day. This evening is called King's Night, or Koningnacht in The Hague. The "t" is left out because nacht is pronounced as nach in The Hague. Outdoor concerts throughout the city centre of The Hague draw tens of thousands of visitors every year.[54][55]

Every third Tuesday in September is Prinsjesdag, or Prince's Day, the opening of the Dutch parliament. On a festive day, children in The Hague are free from school so they may watch the procession of the Golden Coach. The King is driven in the coach from Noordeinde Palace to the Ridderzaal in the Binnenhof. Here, the King reads the Speech from the Throne, written jointly by the Ministers and Secretaries of State. This troonrede outlines the government's plans for the coming year. As the procession returns to the Noordeinde Palace, the road is lined with members of the Dutch Royal Armed Forces, and in the afternoon, the Royal Family appears on the palace balcony to address an adoring and often frenzied public (balkonscène).[56]

Vlaggetjesdag (nl), literally Flag Day, is the annual celebration of the arrival of the year's first herring (Hollandse Nieuwe) in Scheveningen. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in Scheveningen for the festivities, and the fishing boats are decorated specially for the occasion. In addition to the omnipresent herring, this day also features several activities unrelated to fish. In Scheveningen, the first barrel of herring is traditionally sold at an auction on the Thursday preceding the official Vlaggetjesdag, and the proceeds go to charity. Vlaggetjesdag was made official in 1947, although the festive tradition around the beginning of herring season is much older: in the 18th century, the villages along the coast, including Scheveningen, were forbidden to gut the caught herring. Since herring was most appropriate for smoking around September, most fishing boats caught flatfish or round-bodied fish during part of the summer, to avoid a surplus of fresh herring.[57] In July or August, The Hague hosts a series of weekly firework displays by the sea front in Scheveningen, as part of an international fireworks festival and competition.

Tong Tong Fair, formerly Pasar Malam Besar, is the largest festival in the world for Indo culture. Established in 1959, it is one of the oldest festivals and the fourth-largest grand fair in the Netherlands. It is also the annual event with the highest number of paying visitors to The Hague, having consistently attracted more than 100,000 visitors since 1993. The Milan Festival is Europe's biggest Hindustani open-air event, annually held in Zuiderpark. The Hague also hosts several annual music festivals; on the last Sunday in June, the city hosts Parkpop, the largest free open-air pop concert in Europe. Crossing Border Festival, State-X and The Hague Jazz festival are among other music festivals in The Hague.[58]

Crossing Border Festival is an annual festival in November, focusing on music and literature.[59] The first edition took place in 1993.

Movies That Matter[60] is an international film and debate festival about peace and justice that takes place every year at the end of March; nine days filled with screenings of fiction films and documentaries, daily talk-shows, music performances, and exhibitions. The first such event took place in 2006.

Moreover, The Hague International Model United Nations, annually held in January, is a five-day conference held at the World Forum, gathering over 4,000 students from over 200 secondary schools across the globe. It is the oldest and largest high school United Nations simulation in the world. Den Haag Sculptuur is an open-air exhibition of sculptures; the tenth such event, in 2007, celebrated the 400 years of the relationship between the Netherlands and Australia. Since 2009, the city of The Hague also annually presents an LGBTQ+ emancipation award, called the John Blankenstein Award. The exact date of the ceremony varies each year.

The Hague shares an airport with Rotterdam. It can be reached from Central Station by RandstadRail Line E, with an Airport Shuttle to and from Meijersplein Station. However, with several direct trains per hour from the railway stations Hollands Spoor and Centraal, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is more frequently used by people travelling to and from The Hague by air.

Internal view of The Hague Central station

There are two main railway stations in The Hague: Hollands Spoor and Centraal Station, 1.5 km (1 mi) apart from each other. Because the two stations were built and run by two different railway companies in the 19th century, services have traditionally been split between the two: east–west lines terminate at Centraal Station, whereas north–south lines run through Hollands Spoor. However, Centraal Station now offers direct services to most major Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht.

Other destinations include Leiden, Haarlem, Zwolle, Groningen, Leeuwarden, Amersfoort, Enschede, Breda, Tilburg and Eindhoven. International travellers for Antwerp and Brussels have to change trains at Rotterdam.

Public transport in The Hague consists of a tramway network and a sizeable number of bus routes, operated by HTM Personenvervoer.[61] Plans for a subway were shelved in the early 1970s. However, in 2004 a tunnel was built under the city centre with two underground tram stations (Spui and Grote Markt); it is shared by RandstadRail lines 3 and 4 and tram routes 2 and 6.

RandstadRail connects The Hague to nearby cities, Zoetermeer, Rotterdam, and Leidschendam-Voorburg. It consists of four light rail lines (3, 4, and 19 to Zoetermeer, Rijswijk, Delft, and Leidschendam-Voorburg) and one subway line (E to Rotterdam).

Major motorways connecting to The Hague include the A12, running to Utrecht and the German border. The A12 runs directly into the heart of the city in a cutting. Built in the 1970s, this section of the motorway (the "Utrechtsebaan") is now heavily overburdened. Plans were made in the late 1990s for a second artery road into the city (the "Rotterdamsebaan", previously called the "Trekvliettracé") which is due to be built between 2016 and 2019.[62] Other connecting motorways are the A4, which connects the city with Amsterdam, and the A13, which runs to Rotterdam and connects to motorways towards the Belgian border. There is also the A44 that connects the city to Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam. In the 1970s, plans of building another motorway to Leiden existed. This "Leidsebaan" was supposed to start in the city centre and then follow the railway line from The Hague to Amsterdam. Some works had been executed but had been removed by the 1980s.