Huis ten Bosch

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Huis ten Bosch
North elevation

North elevation

Geographical location 52 ° 5 '35.2 "  N , 4 ° 20' 37.6"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 5 '35.2 "  N , 4 ° 20' 37.6"  E
Huis ten Bosch (South Holland)
Huis ten Bosch

Huis ten Bosch is a castle in the Netherlands . The building, built in the 17th century as a pleasure palace , is located in the park-like Haagse Bos forest northeast of The Hague . The castle, classified as a Rijksmonument , serves as the residence of the Dutch royal family .

Jordaens Friedrich Heinrich as a triumphant

history

The palace was built and used in the 17th century

From 1645 governor Friedrich Heinrich had the castle built as a summer residence for himself and his family. His wife Amalie zu Solms received the property as a gift from the States General , the designs for the castle were made by Pieter Post , he was supported by Constantijn Huygens , the prince's secretary. Amalie zu Solms was also closely involved in the construction process. The foundation stone was laid on September 2, 1645 by Elisabeth Stuart , the former Electress of the Palatinate, whom Amalie had previously served as lady-in-waiting . After the death of her husband in 1647, Amalie decides to complete the building as a memorial to the deceased governor. She therefore did not use the new castle as a residence, but continued to live in the Paleis Noordeinde . After her death in 1675, the castle became the joint property of her four daughters, although it was only inhabited by Albertine Agnes , who, as the widow of Prince Wilhelm Friedrich, was the only daughter who lived in the Netherlands. 1686 acquired governor Wilhelm III. , a grandson of Friedrich Heinrich, the castle. His wife, the English princess Maria , lived in the castle until she and her husband became Queen and King of England in 1689.

The castle after an engraving from the 17th century

Use in the 18th century

After the childless death of Wilhelm III. In 1702 King Friedrich I of Prussia, another grandson of Friedrich Heinrich, inherited the castle. His son Friedrich Wilhelm I , the soldier king, sold it in 1732 to Prince Wilhelm IV of Orange , who came from the Nassau-Dietz branch line . This began in 1734 on the occasion of his wedding to the British Princess Anna with a large-scale renovation. Under the direction of the architect Daniel Marot , the main facade was changed and the building was extended by two side wings. From then on it served as the residence for Wilhelm IV and his successor as governor, Wilhelm V.

The French period 1795–1813

After the occupation of the Netherlands by the French revolutionary troops and the proclamation of the Batavian Republic , the castle was confiscated from the governor's property in 1795 and declared national property, and the facility was sold. After the first coup in the Batavian Republic in 1798, a number of members of the National Assembly were interned in the castle. The eastern wing was rented out as an inn from 1800. From 1806 the castle served as the residence of King Ludwig , who refurbished it in Empire style , but moved to Utrecht in 1807 and to the Amsterdam City Hall, which had been converted into a royal palace in 1808 . Although Ludwig only lived in the castle for a short time, the furnishings in the new Empire style were significant in terms of art history, as they marked the introduction of this new style in the Netherlands. Much of the furniture from that time is still in the palace.

Royal summer residence in the 19th and 20th centuries

After the end of French rule and the introduction of the monarchy in 1815, the palace served King Wilhelm I and later Queen Sophie , the first wife of King Wilhelm III. , as a summer residence. In 1899 the first Hague Peace Conference met in the palace . Queen Wilhelmina also used the castle next to Het Loo Castle near Apeldoorn as a summer residence. She was surprised by the German attack and fled to Great Britain with Princess Juliana and her family.

Second World War

The castle was badly damaged during the Second World War. In 1943 the German occupation forces wanted to demolish the castle to make room for anti-tank trenches and other defensive positions, but this was prevented at the last minute. Towards the end of the war, the castle was damaged by air raids and was uninhabitable after the liberation.

After the Second World War

In 1950 the castle was restored, but in the following years it was only used occasionally by Queen Juliana when she was in The Hague. After a major renovation from 1977 onwards, Queen Beatrix and her family moved into the castle on August 10, 1981 , which served as her and her family's residence until 2013. Her son and successor Willem-Alexander also uses the castle as a residence.

The castle is not open to the public, but can be partially seen from the surrounding park.

investment

Floor plan of the castle

The core of the complex is the 17th century brick castle built in the Dutch Baroque . The two-storey building above a basement has a dome over the central Orange Room. A white plastered porch was placed in front of the courtyard facade in the 18th century, the terrace and the outside staircase on the garden facade also come from the renovations from the 18th century.

The two-storey wing buildings from the 18th century are slightly offset on both sides, the right or western wing is called the Hague wing , the left or eastern wing is called the Wassenaarse wing .

The Orange Room after the restoration in 2001

Interior decoration

  • Behind the vestibule , a door between the double staircase leads to the Oranjesaal , the central room of the palace. The 19 m high domed hall was designed by Jacob van Campen together with Constantijn Huygens. The 31 monumental, wall-filling paintings by Jacob van Campen serve to glorify the governor Friedrich Heinrich. The central painting, Friedrich Heinrich as Triumphator , glorifying the governor as a peacemaker, was made by Jacob Jordaens and was completed in 1652. The hall was extensively restored in 2001.
  • The ballroom is located above the vestibule . The hall has been rebuilt several times, including serving as an Anglican chapel for Mary of England, as a billiard room and as an armory. It has served as a ballroom since the 1950s and has yellow damask wallpaper and a floor made of walnut parquet.
  • Other state rooms are the Chinese room next to the Orange Room with rice paper wallpapers from 1791 and the Japanese room behind it . The room was a gift from an East Asian merchant to Wilhelm V and has lacquered wall paneling and wallpaper in the Japanese style. The blue and green salons , which are now furnished in Louis Seize style, still have stucco ceilings in the style of late 18th century Chinese fashion .
  • The White Hall in the Hague Wing, which was furnished by Wilhelm IV in the 18th century, serves as the dining room . The hall has a vaulted stucco ceiling and walls decorated with grisaille painting. The other rooms in the Hague wing contain utility rooms and guest rooms, while the royal private rooms are in the Wassenaarse wing.
  • In the basement of the main house is the garden room with a brick vault and a stone floor from the 17th century.

garden

The approximately 300 × 400 m garden is surrounded by a moat. The main entrance to the palace is via an avenue from the northwest. To the south of the palace there is a meadow with a central pond, the formerly formally laid out eastern part of the garden was restored after the Second World War as a grove with paths through it.

Replica

Huis Ten Bosch near Nagasaki

A copy of the palace is in a Huis Ten Bosch amusement park near Nagasaki in Japan. The replica is limited to the exterior; inside, the replica contains a museum with works by Japanese and international artists.

Web links

Commons : Huis ten Bosch  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Het Koninklijk Huis: Geschiedenis - Franse Tijd (1795-1813). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 27, 2013 ; Retrieved August 2, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.koninklijkhuis.nl
  2. This is The Hague: Huis ten Bosch. Retrieved February 21, 2015 .
  3. Theo de Vries. Huis ten Bosch. In: palaces, castles, residences. Centers of European History. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1983. ISBN 3-8289-0730-X , p. 158
  4. Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / english.huistenbosch.co.jp