The Peace Palace
Arthur Eyffinger, Het Vredespaleis, 1988. Shelfmark: ZAA 178
For more than a century, the Peace Palace has been a prominent monument in The Hague. How did the Peace Palace end up there?
Establishment of the International Court of Justice
In 1899, the First International Peace Conference was held in The Hague at the initiative of Russian Tsar Nicholas II. This took place in the Netherlands, traditionally a country that adopted a neutral stance and the homeland of Hugo Grotius, the founder of modern international law.
At the conference, it was decided to establish a Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. This would mediate disputes between states in order to reach peaceful solutions. In 1901, this Court was established and temporarily housed at Prinsengracht 71. The construction of a representative building became possible in 1903 following a donation of one and a half million dollars by the Scottish-American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A condition was that a library for international law would be built alongside the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Portrait of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie donated generously to projects in the fields of education, welfare, and peace. For instance, he attached great importance to a library freely accessible to everyone; worldwide, he funded the construction of 2,500 libraries. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington and the Carnegie Heldenfonds Nederland Foundation, established in 1911, commemorate his philanthropy in their names.
The Carnegie Foundation
On October 7, 1903, it was agreed to establish the Carnegie Foundation. The objective was: ‘the erection of a Court House and Library for the Permanent Court of Arbitration’. After much negotiation, the Zorgvliet estate on the Scheveningseweg was ultimately chosen as the location for this Temple of Peace. The summer palace ‘Buitenrust’ of Anna Paulowna, wife of King William II, had previously stood here.
Designs for the Peace Palace
The new foundation launched an international competition to commission a design for the building. Many architects, including Berlage, the Finnish Eliel Saarinen, and the Austrian Otto Wagner, submitted designs. An international jury, which included P. Cuypers, received 216 designs. The designs for the Peace Palace were published in 1906 in the book The Peace Palace in The Hague: the six awarded, along with forty other designs (application number: KW 1291 C 22). Below you can see a selection of designs by national and international architects.
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The design that won second prize
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The design that won third prize
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The design that won fourth prize
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The design that won fifth prize
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The design that won sixth prize
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H.P. Berlage's design for the Peace Palace
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The design by the Finnish architect Saarinen
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The design by Eduard Cuypers
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The design by J.F. Groll
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The design by H. van Buren Magonigle
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The design by F. Debat
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The design by Emil Töry
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The design by W. Kromhout
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The design by G. Mancini
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The design by J. Zimmermann
Remarkably few modern architects had shown interest. As a result, most entries had a conservative character, featuring many neo-styles and imitation Baroque. The not-so-enthusiastic jury ultimately awarded the prize to the Frenchman Louis Cordonnier. He was not entirely unknown, as he had previously submitted a design for the stock exchange building in Amsterdam.
Slimmed-down design
Cordonnier's original design, featuring no fewer than four towers, was deemed excessive and too expensive. In collaboration with the Haarlem architect J. van der Steur, the design was adapted to Dutch techniques and materials, as well as the budget. The result is a blend of Dutch Neo-Renaissance and a French castle, with only one tower. On July 30, 1907, the foundation stone for the new building was symbolically laid during the Second Hague Peace Conference.
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The original design by Cordonnier
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Side view of Cordonnier's original design
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The right side of Cordonnier's design
An international building
During this conference, a call was made to furnish the Peace Palace with donations from the participating countries, in order to express a global striving for peaceful mediation. Many countries did indeed contribute to the building and the garden. As a result, they have acquired an international appearance. For instance, wood species for the paneling were imported from the Dutch East Indies and Brazil, the marble for the great hall came from Italy, and Germany donated the entrance gate. The bronze entrance doors in Art Nouveau style came from Belgium, and the tower clock was a gift from Switzerland.
A design for the garden
The English landscape architect Thomas Mawson provided the winning design for the garden. In it, he had included a peace fountain and a peace temple, among other things, but these were also abandoned due to budget overruns. The rose garden and the elongated pond from his design were preserved. During the construction of the pond, Mawson utilized the natural course of the Haagse Beek. Furthermore, the sculpture ‘The Horrors of War’, donated by Chile, and a statue of Erasmus were placed in the garden.
Opening
On August 28, 1913, the Peace Palace was officially opened in the presence of Queen Wilhelmina and Andrew Carnegie. Unfortunately, the Dutch Nobel Peace Prize winner Tobias Asser was absent; he had passed away a month earlier. The distinguished guests were driven to the palace in an open carriage and received with all due honours. In the presence of countless guests, Carnegie handed over the key to the Peace Palace to the Board of Directors of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Various publications were released on the occasion of the opening. For instance, the General Union for Peace through Law published a collection of contributions by, among others, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, the father of the future UN Secretary-General, and by Bertha von Suttner and Louis Renault, Nobel Peace Prize winners. Less idealistic publications, such as En Voyage aux Pays-Bas, a travel guide commemorating the “Inauguration du Palais de la Paix” and “the centenary of the Dutch Constitution”, attempted, with a Dutch commercial spirit, to promote not only peace but also tourism.
Het Vredespaleis: gedenkboek ten dage van de plechtige opening op 28 Augustus 1913, 1913. Shelfmark: 5294997
War
Ten months after the official inauguration of the Peace Palace, the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo; in August 1914, the First World War had broken out. In the magazine De Amsterdammer, a caricature of the Peace Palace appeared with the text: “For rent or for sale due to bankruptcy”. Architect Cordonnier designed a basilica for the military cemetery at Arras; tens of thousands of fallen soldiers rest there in peace.
Het Vredespaleis nu
The Peace Palace in 2024
More than a hundred years later, the symbol of peace and justice still stands majestically. In addition to the original Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), it houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Hague Academy of International Law, and, of course, the Peace Palace Library, with its impressive collection of international law.
Today, more institutions in the field of international law are based in The Hague. The International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are the most important.
In the spirit of Andrew Carnegie, the Peace Palace not only houses institutions that contribute to preserving world peace. The city of The Hague has, in the words of former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Gali, become a forum for meeting and dialogue between people who wish to commit themselves to peace and justice, as the world’s legal capital.
References
- Het Vredespaleis: gedenkboek ten dage van de plechtige opening op 28 Augustus 1913, 1913. Shelfmark: 5294997
- Arthur Eyffinger, The Hague, international centre of justice and peace, 2003. Shelfmark: 5177785
- Johan Joor, Heikelina Verrijn Stuart, Bouwen aan vrede: honderd jaar werken aan vrede door recht: het Vredespaleis, 1913-2013, 2013. Shelfmark: 5295714
