The Inner Court (Incl. the Hall of Knights), The Hague

[Marengo]

From this wikipedia page:

The Binnenhof (Dutch, lit. "inner court"), is a collection of buildings in The Hague. It has been the location of meetings of the Staten-Generaal (the Dutch parliament) since 1446, and has been the centre of Dutch politics for centuries.
The grounds on which the Binnenhof now stands was purchased by Count Floris IV of Holland in 1229, where he built his mansion. More buildings were constructed around the court, several of which are well known in their own right, such as the Ridderzaal (great hall; literally Knight's Hall) (pictured), where the queen holds her annual speech at Prinsjesdag. One of the towers, simply known as het Torentje (the small tower; pictured) has been the working space of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 1982.
The Binnenhof was also the site where statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was executed in 1619.

1) www.vvv.denhaag.nl
2) Private
3) website of parliament

 

[Marengo]

View from the 'hofvijver':

Private pictures

 

[Marengo]

The Stadholderly Palace of Stadholder Willem V (on the left):

Ballroom of the palace, now used for meetings, presentations etc.:

The Prince Gallery:

1st picture: private
Pictures: tweedekamer.nl

 

[Marengo]

from the website of the 2nd chamber (www.tweedekamer.nl), pictures of the Treves Room, where the cabinet has its meetings:

 

[Marengo]

A very good website by Chris Schram, showing lots of pictures:

Click here.

--
The Inner Court at GoogleMaps, click here.

Get a virtual tour with 360 degrees pictures here.

 

[Marengo]

The inside of the Hall of Knights in the days of the Dutch Republic:

And the same hall, now.

 

[Marengo]

Old images, free of copyrights:

 

[marmi]

Wow thanks for the pictures Marengo! Beautiful.

 

[appeltree]

Binnenhof Palace, the Hague

Hey guys,

Someone from the Netherlands here who doesn't understand why noone ever mentioned the Binnenhof Palace in the Hague. Prins Floris IV once used it. During the '90 the building was restored.

Sinds a long time the palace is used as the ministry of general affairs, office of the Prime-Minister and house of the first and second Parlements.

The new house of representatives is now situated in the renovated part of the building.


Fontain

Maquette of the palace, with the renovation at the right.

State-pool with the palace

Left Mauritshuis, right the palace. The little tower in the middle is the office of the Prime-Minister.

State-pool with the palace. At the background the Dutch Ministry of Health and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Sports and Sience.

Panorama of the Binnenhof

Binnenhof Palace during the 17th century.

Ridderzaal during the 17th century.

Ridderzaal in 2010.

Throne of the Dutch Queen or King

Ministers and parlement-people during the annual speech from Queen Beatrix.

Ridderzaal during entrance of Queen Beatrix and Crown-Prince Willem Alexander with chairman of the house of representatives.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c42/appeltree/foto12.png

Hallway in the Ministry of General Affairs.

Overview

Ridderzaal

One of the doors from the Ministry of General Affairs

Gallery

Two ports

Ridderzaal

Overview in 1900

Overview

Entrance to the office of the Prime-Minister

Outside look at the renovation

New Head-entrance

House of Lords

House of Representatives

House of Representatives

House of Lords

House of Representatives

Office of Prime-Minister

Office of Prime-Minister

Gallery of House of Lords

Old archives

Former House of Representatives

House of Lords

Trêveszaal, Conference room of the Government

Trêveszaal

Trêveszaal in history

Trêveszaal during the inauguration of Prime-Minister Mark Rutte

Statenpassage, the central hallway

One of the doors to the Conference room of the Christian party

Conference room of the Liberals in the former palace

Stairs in the former palace

One of the Conference rooms

Hallway at the CDA-fraction

Palace with the blue-theme

Palace with cars from the ministries in front. At the backgrond Ministry of General Affairs.

Outside look at the modern part.

Gallery at Ministry of General Affairs.

Old picture of "Het Torentje".

Guestroom

Second Conference Room

 

[lucien]

Beautifull,Prachtig!Thank you,appletree!

You're right,we didn't have that much on the former Stadtholders Palace.

 

[Marengo]

There was already a thread about the inner court, so I merged the two. The Maurits house has a thread of its own, since it isn't part of the inner court. You can find that thread here.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

The Hall of Knights

 

[Blog Real]

The Ridderzaal in 2019
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...jke_Marechaussee_in_handen_van_Leijtens-9.jpg

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Not unsurprisingly the renovation of the historic Binnenhof (the Inner Court) will take more time will add hundreds of millions to the already hefty price tag.

Most important cause is that all technical installations were to be placed in a massive bunker under the Buitenhof (the Outer Court) but seeing the increased demand for security (that storming of the Capitol, for an example) it is thought that all technical installations should be in a deep bunker under the Inner Court itself, the zone with the highest security profile.

But such a concrete mammoth under the floort causes problems for the mediaeval buildings around it, which need extra support. Morever it also means all the sand and ground has to leave via a historic gate, as it is the secluded Inner Court and not the open Outer Court, so no big mammoth trucks and shovels can do the work.

All by all it will result in a restored medieaeval complex, with extra historic moats returned (adding extra security) and all critical utilities deep underground in a safe bunker. It also means that the annual Prinsjesdag (State Opening of Parliament) will not return to these historic premises for some more years.

The Inner Court complex seen from outside, from the Court Pond: https://denhaag.com/sites/default/f...4c2-416c3b8c7df8.jpg?h=4e1e2079&itok=_VXU1EkF

 

[Marengo]

According to a new book on the court of Willem I the King was advised by a special commission to move his residence from Noordeinde to the Inner Court. Parliament was supposed to move the to Noordeinde palace or another location.

Noordeinde -even after renovations- was considered second rate, which still is a generous description. While the Inner court was much larger and certainly much more prestigious as it was the center of Holland for centuries.

Apart from being second rate it also was too small, even after it was extended. Only the King, Queen and Princess Marianne could have their residence there. There was no place for other members of the family. It also was not large enough to host all the staff, something it had in common with all Dutch palaces at the time except Het Loo and Laeken.

It is not clear why the king decided against such a move. He was generally allergic to spending money on prestigious projects. And the money that he did spend was spent in Brussels where expectations of a court were higher [there were more imposing noble families living there with connections to Vienna and Paris] and where several palaces had burned down, creating a need for new buildings.

In the pre-Napoleonic days the stadholder would have their main residence in the Inner Court. Willem V would be the last one to reside there. His son, as hereditary prince of Orange, used Noordeinde as a residence.

 

[Marengo]

The estimated renovation costs have apparently already quadrupled. It went from 475 million Euros to 2 billion Euros now. The renovation will also take longer than expected, we are lucky if it will be done in 2028 (2 years later than the original plan).

The renovation is described as 'a dream for archeologists but a nightmare for construction engineers'. While opening walls, floors etc. they have found much more problems than expected. And with 90.000 square meters and 4000 rooms the costs seem to explode.

Some problems:
They found much more asbestos than expected.
The water of the pond is leaking into the first chamber of parlament.
Various historic/more original details have been found behind ceilings, walls etc.
Walls and ceilings are rotten.
The roof of the first chamber is in danger of collapse.

Kosten renovatie Binnenhof lopen op naar ‘gigantisch bedrag’: 2 miljard euro

Nu bijna alle wanden en plafonds van het 800 jaar oude complex zijn weggehaald, wordt duidelijk hoe verrot het complex eigenlijk is.

nos.nl

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De renovatie van het Binnenhof is een hoofdpijndossier van jewelste aan het worden. Het project is jaren vertraagd en het prijskaartje is verviervoudigd tot 2 miljard euro. Maar voordat minister De Jonge dat bedrag dinsdag openbaarde, stuurde hij journalisten eerst langs loszittende muren...

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Van 475 miljoen naar 2 miljard: hierom is renovatie Binnenhof zo duur | NU.nl

De renovatie van het Binnenhof gaat niet 475 miljoen, maar 2 miljard kosten. Waarom lopen die kosten zo op en wat wordt er allemaal gerenoveerd? NU.nl kreeg dinsdag een rondleiding over het terrein.

www.nu.nl