The Hague Fun Facts
Expats in Netherlands may know The Hague is the third largest city in Holland and that its Dutch name is Den Haag, but they probably aren’t aware of these The Hague fun facts …
THE HAGUE FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
- The Hague is also known as ‘International City of Peace and Justice‘.
- The first Hague Convention took place over 10 weeks in 1899 at Huis ten Bosch with representatives from 26 different countries. One outcome was the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration which is located in the Peace Palace.
- There are 4 different names for the city: The Hague (English), Den Haag (Dutch), ‘s-Gravenhage (Old Dutch) and La Haye (French).
- A stork (ooievaar) has been used as a symbol of The Hague as far back as the 1500’s and is prominently featured in the city’s coat of arms.
- The Hague city flag is a simple 2 stripe design with yellow on top and green on bottom. Originally the colors were reversed, with yellow on the bottom and green on top. The color change was made in 1949.
- Haagse hopje is a strong-flavored coffee candy introduced in The Hague in the late 1700’s.
- Residents of The Hague are called ‘Hagenaars‘.
- The Hague is the only Dutch city with two main train stations: Den Haag Centraal and Den Haag HollandSpoor.
- The Hague has the highest population density of any city in the Netherlands with 6,853 residents per square kilometer (2023).
- Population of The Hague is 565,000, approximately the same as Albuquerque NM (USA), Antwerp (BE), Baltimore MD (USA), Dresden (DE), Dublin (IE), Lisbon (PT) and Milwaukee WI (USA).
- There are over 50 museums in The Hague.
- The world famous ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring‘ painting by Johannes Vermeer is housed at the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague.
- There are two royal palaces in The Hague: Noordeinde Paleis – the working palace of King Willem-Alexander and Huis ten Bosch – the residential palace.
- The Palace Gardens were originally part of Noordeinde Palace and only accessible to its inhabitants and guests. Since 1940 the gardens have been a city park open to the public.
- The Catshuis (built 1652) in The Hague Zorgvliet area is the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
- Laan van Meerdervoort is not only the longest street in The Hague but in the entire country. It runs for 5.8 km.
- The largest bonfire (by volume) in the world was 8,695m3 on 31 December 2015 at Scheveningen beach in The Hague.
- The Hague is the only Dutch city to have hosted the Eurovision Song Contest twice (1976 and 1980).
- Rock band the Rolling Stones have performed in The Hague 4 times: 1964 Kurhaus Scheveningen (1,800), 1976 Zuiderpark Stadium (30,000 x 2 shows), 1998 Malieveld (86,000).
- The Beatles never performed in The Hague but Paul McCartney & Wings did, on 21 August 1972 at the Congresgebouw (now World Forum).
- Queen performed in The Hague on 8 December 1974 during their Sheer Heart Attack Tour.
- The Hague is the only major Dutch city located on the North Sea. Its coastline spans 11 kms, from Scheveningen in the north to Kijkduin in the south.
- The largest bonfire (by volume) in the world was 8,695m3 achieved on 31 December 2015 at Scheveningen beach in The Hague.
- De Pier in Scheveningen is a replacement to the first pier which opened in 1901 and was destroyed by fire during WWII. The second pier opened in 1959 is 382 meters long and attracts 2 million visitors a year.
- The first tennis court in Netherlands was built around 1500 in behind the Knight’s Hall (Ridderzaal) in The Hague Binnenhof.
- The first golf course in Netherlands was built in 1889 in The Hague. The first Dutch golf club was founded in 1893 as The Hague Golf Club (now Koninklijke Haagsche Golf & Country Club).
More of… THE HAGUE FUN FACTS
People born in The Hague:
- Johannes Vermeer (Painter)
- Anouk (Singer)
- Robin Haase (Tennis Player)
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