On the coast of the North or German Sea lies the Dutch city of The Hague. In size, it is second only to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The paradox is that the government is located in The Hague, and not in Amsterdam, the capital of the country. In the Netherlands, where The Hague is located, locals speak Dutch, although you can hear French, Turkish, English and even Arabic in the streets.
History
The first written records of the Hague date back to the 13th century. Then it was the village of Hage. And only at the beginning of the XIX century. Hage village became the city of The Hague. “Fenced plot”, “hedge” or “count forest” - this is how the name of the city is translated from Dutch. Holland, where the Hague is located, is known for its narrow houses and winding streets. The Hague was destroyed and rebuilt several times. This is the most atypical city in the Netherlands, as it does not have the old part. Here you will not see city walls, boulevards and canals - this is a city of gloss and chic.
Geography and climate
The Hague is the capital of the southern province of Holland. The western part of the Netherlands, where The Hague is located, is known for its marine temperate climate.
The sandy beach of the city stretches 3 kilometers. Although the sea is called the North, but from June to September, the water warms up to 20 degrees. Winters in The Hague are warm, with an average temperature of + 5 ° C. October is the rainiest month. In the districts of the city (and there are 8), elections are not held and they have no political function.
Gevangenport Museum
In the city of peace and humanism you can visit a very unusual museum. The Hague, where this attraction is located, can shock you. The Gevangenport Museum is a former prison, and now it is a torture museum. It took 7 centuries for a medieval prison with its sophisticated torture chambers to become history.
This is the worst exhibition in the world. XIII century casemates included criminals from all over the kingdom. Visitors are invited to see the executioners' tools used to torture heretics. But the executioners in the Middle Ages had a very outstanding fantasy. Here you will find devices for stretching the body, wheeling criminals and the terrible Iron Maiden. Extreme lovers can experience the features of torture. There are two floors in Gevangenport, and between them the workers deliberately made an extremely thin floor so that the moaning cries and screams could be heard well throughout the prison. This architectural feature made it possible to morally break anyone. The Netherlands Museum-Prison is very popular among tourists.
Corpus
The Hague, where the human body museum is located, will surprise you. The architecture of the "Corps" is striking: a sculpture of a man with a height of 35 meters is unrealistic not to notice. Guided tours are conducted in 8 languages every hour, and the starting point is the giant knee. The museum presents several times enlarged human organs. Here you can see the heart from the inside, touch the gyrus in the brain, examine the ears and eyes in detail. Restaurants in the "Corps" are located on the 4th and 7th floors. In the museum you can buy creative souvenirs, play interactive games, and pass tests.
Peace Palace Vredespaleis
The city of The Hague, where the UN court is located, is famous outside the country thanks to the Peace Palace. It was built at the beginning of the XX century by the architect from France L. Cordonnier. Vredespaleis is faced with ceramic bricks, built of quartz and granite. The architecture of the palace contains pilasters, as well as the eclecticism of the Gothic, Romanesque and Byzantine styles.
Many do not know where the Hague is, but everyone knows the expression "The Hague Tribunal." It is in the Peace Palace that Vredespaleis is the seat of the arbitration chamber and the international court. The building was built thanks to the patronage of Russian Tsar Nicholas II and US businessman E. Kernegi. The Peace Palace is the pearl heart of world law.
Madurodam
If after reading "Gulliver" you dreamed of visiting Liliput, then Madurodam is the city of your dreams. In Liliput J. Swift everything was less than 12 times, and in Madurodam - 25. In this place all the famous buildings and palaces of Holland, as well as the airport, are collected. About 5 thousand trees are planted around the city. They are real in the park, only dwarf ones. Madurodam is a real city. Everything that needs to move (trains, planes, mills) is moving. Some models have been assembled for years. The city was designed by architect Jan Baum.
To feel like a real Gulliver, tourists come to the Netherlands, where the Hague is located. In what country, if not in Holland, were they able to build a small "living" city. Among the students in the elementary grades, elections are held for the burgomaster of a mini-city. In Madurodam, every adult will feel like in childhood, and the child will feel like in a revived fairy tale. The complex is already 65 years old, but it does not cease to be updated and improved. The head of this miniature town was once the Queen of Holland Beatrix (she was not even 16 years old).
Perfect World (PV)
We finish the article on a non-touristic note. The capital of Holland is well known to gamers. Perfect World is a browser-based game that has captivated 30 million virtual reality enthusiasts. One of the difficult tasks of the game is to find and kill a monster, whose name is The Hague. Where is the Hague in PV? This is a giant octopus that lives in the Underwater Cave in the southeastern part of Broken Dream Island. Of course, it was not named after the capital of the Netherlands and this is just a coincidence. But the next time you meet an avid gamer, surprise him that The Hague is primarily a city of international importance, and only then the evil monster from Ideal World.