Het Plein

Het Plein (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌɦət ˈplɛin]; English: The Square) is a town square in the old city centre of The Hague in the Netherlands.

Het Plein
Het Plein in The Hague's city centre, with the statue of William the Silent in the middle
Location in the province of South Holland
TypeTown square
LocationThe Hague, Netherlands
Coordinates52.0800533°N 4.3157279°E / 52.0800533; 4.3157279
The Central Royal Military Band of the Netherlands Army on Het Plein.

It is located adjacent to the Binnenhof, the meeting place of the States General of the Netherlands; the entrance to the House of Representatives can be found on Plein 2.[1] The Mauritshuis art museum is located on Plein 29.[2]

Het Plein was originally a garden, forming a part of the Binnenhof castle, residence of the Counts of Holland. It was used to grow vegetables for the court. The garden was surrounded by a ring of canals and intersected by ditches.[3] As a town square, Het Plein was constructed in 1632 and was inspired by the Place des Vosges in Paris.

A statue of William the Silent, made by Dutch sculptor Lodewyk Royer, was installed in the centre of the square in 1848.

References
  1. "Adres en route" (in Dutch). House of Representatives. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  2. "Address and directions". Mauritshuis. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  3. "Plein: van kooltuin tot stadsplein". Geschiedenis van Den Haag (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 July 2014.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.