Sightseeing in The Hague - what to see. Complete travel guide

The Hague is the city of art and culture, splendid beaches and parks. It's nice to go to the Hague, Scheveningen and Cakedown at any season to laze in the sun, to walk across the beach or to visit a museum. Joyful pop-festivals, the night of the Queen, theater, music – there you can find everything for having a really interesting life. Go to the Hague and it will surely leave unforgettable impressions!

The new center of the Hague – Resident area.
If you go from the station in the direction of the new building of city administration, which is situated at Spuiplein square, you'll get to Resident area. To a certain extent it's a try to redress the wrong and return to the city center its solemnity. Resident area is a new district with offices and residential constructions, located in the very center of the city. The high-rise building with two pointed roofs, which can be seen almost from everywhere, is sometimes sarcastically called 'the bosom of the Hague'. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the high-rise construction was built on an old one, because it was decided not to demolish the old building. Nearby another construction work is organized: de Hoftoren, the highest edifice in the Hague is being built.

The building of city administration. In the end of the 20th century the government decided to start constructing the new building of city administration with a public library. Enormous snow-white edifice, projected by architect Richard Mayer, was soon renamed by the native into 'The Ice Palace' and professional in architecture call it 'The modern temple'. The building consists of the public library (it's the round part in the front) and two office buildings (there the most of Hague public services are located), between them you'll see the atrium. Primordially it was planned to make the atrium transparent, but security measures just brought it to nothing. The thing is that a lot of self-murderers try to finish their lives by jumping from the 11th floor, so it resulted in plenty of nets, revolving-doors and security-men. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Spuiplein Square. Not far from the building of city administration and the Concert Hall Anton Philips and the Dance Theatre you'll see Spuiplein Square. There takes place a wonderful fountain, if we can say so: the water gushes just from the ground in different directions, managed by computer. It's a great joy to look how embarrassed the passes-by are, when the fountain starts working. The best place to watch at these funny situations is from the side of the building of city administration. On one of the two underground tram stations, located under Spuiplein Square, the permanent historical placard stand is placed. This station belongs to the tram tunnel, which was a lot disputed about (it took 10 years to build it and it cost almost 250 million euro).

The New Church. The other side of Spuiplein Square is the location of the New Church. It's called new, because, actually, it was built only several centuries ago. In the late Middle Ages the population of the Hague was growing constantly, that's why the Great Church and St Jacob Church soon became too small. In the 17th century a new church was built near the Spuiplein canal. The church was made in the Dutch classism style that was traditional for that time. The canal was closed, but the church still stands in a marvellous garden. By the way, the garden is the location of Spinoza's grave. In summer, a cozy terrace is opened under the shade of the church garden. You will also find the Stout cafe nearby.

Plein Square. Mauritshuis. In the 13th century Plein was a large and beautiful garden named Graven Kooltuin. It was located right behind the Knights' Hall. In the 16th century the garden lost its beauty and glory because of numerous wars. It was abandoned until 1600, when prince Maurits ordered to turn it into a flower garden. In the 17th century this territory was sold and building works started there. First, it was planned to build up the whole area, but Governor Frederic Hendric objected this idea. He wanted to create something innovate, like in Paris - it had to be a quadrangular square, surrounded by houses. Though, as the time passed, the original buildings were changed for the new ones, but the square has kept its primordial shape. In the centre of it you will see the monument dedicated to William of Orange.

The former hotel Logement van Amsterdam is one of the largest edifices in Plein Square. It was built in the 18th century. The hotel was the place, where visitors from Amsterdam used to stay. In the 18th century the welfare of Amsterdam was growing, and so the bigger number of visitors came to the city. This made the hotel a prosperous and growing business.

In the 17th century Amsterdam bought the first house near the former Earl's garden, then another two houses and in the 18th century they all were united. The building was restored, and nowadays it's the part of the de Tweede Kamer. Plein Square is the place, where tourists will find a lot of cafes and restaurants, which open their terraces in summer. Unfortunately, Mauritshuis is the only building left from all the residential houses located there. This is a classical city palace built in the 17th century. It looks just like four centuries ago. Nowadays, the palace is used to host the exhibition of the museum. Here visitors can see works by such famous Dutch painters as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Potter. Mauritshuis is connected with Prince William V gallery, which was the first museum in the Netherlands.