In the course of time many residents of The Hague have worked hard to make our city more beautiful and enjoyable. Every day we walk or cycle by the results of their labours, often without consciously noticing them. One such Hagenaar was sculptor Dirk Bus. Dirk Bus Dirk Bus was born in The Hague in …
Every July I leave The Hague for a week of singing in beautiful Bruges. On Simon Stevin Square in Bruges are restaurants, many with terraces, that serve mussels or Flemish stew. Whilst sitting there and enjoying myself I realized that Simon Stevin’s journey was just the other way around: from Bruges to The Hague. Simon …
Every year in September I take part in a door-to-door fundraising event organized by the Kidney Foundation. Good work with an unexpected result: aching quadriceps muscles. And why is that? My fundraising route includes a street with a unique type of dwelling called a “Haagse Portiekwoning”, which in English translates to “The Hague Porch House”. …
De Haagse Portiekwoningen – “Porch Houses” of The Hague Read More »
All of us must face life’s two certainties: death and taxes. There are, of course, many different types of taxes. And the way we are taxed changes in the course of time. In the 19th century, Dutch people paid window tax – the amount based on the number of windows in a house. Tax harmonization …
A few months ago I wrote an article about the family firm Zondag, wine and spirit merchants and distillery at Westeinde in The Hague. Not long after, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Fred Andrioli. He told me that in the sixties Zondag had been an important supplier of the Haagsche Studenten …
Many of you must have experienced this: You are in love with someone and visit his or her parents for the first time…. During my first meeting at the home of my in-laws to be, I saw an unusual portrait hanging on the wall. It turned out to be a drawing of Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis. In …
I like to curl up on the couch with a book. One of my favorites is ‘Old People and the Things That Pass’ by Louis Couperus. It’s a book I like to revisit regularly. Louis Couperus Louis Couperus – a descendant of a long line of Colonial civil servants and administrators – was born in …
Here in The Hague I often notice company names on shopfronts that differ from the company that is currently doing business in the shop or building. This always triggers my curiosity and I try to find out more about the history of the building. That’s what I did after spotting the building on Westeinde 10, …
I’m a great fan of small museums – particularly those that tell a story. The Hague is fortunate to have a number of these museums, including the unique Freemasonry Museum. Here you can learn about the past and present of the fraternal order known as The Grand Orient of the Netherlands. Freemasonry in The Hague …
During my guided tours through The Hague I often walk by the statue of Queen Wilhelmina, across from the Noordeinde Palace. If I do so in the company of Dutch people, their recognition is immediate: ‘Oh yes, Queen Wilhelmina!’ If I’m in the company of visitors from abroad they ask me hesitatingly ‘Is this a …
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