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334 Route 39. THE HAGUE. Town Hall.
and the Ptolemies, are arranged chronologically. The collection of Mepars
includes interesting Dutch Memorial Medals, with busts « tadtholders and
princes of the house of Nassau (*Portrait of Prince Maurice) and of Dutch
naval heroes; also medals commemorating the Peace of Westphalia in
1648, etc. Most of the Cameos are antique and belonged to the antiquarian
Hemsterhuis (d. 1766), whose collection was described by Goethe in 1
The following are among the finest: Head of Hercules; bust of Bacchus;
Faun attempting to rob a Bacchante of her robe; reversed lyre with
horns represented by two dolphins, springing from a rose-crowned head
of Cupid, grouped artistically with the panther of Bacchus, which holds
the thyrsus in its front paw; mask with large beard and open mouth;
mask with long beard and elegantly arranged hair; Venus and Cupid;
Cybele riding on the lion; giant dragging a griffin from a cavern; helmeted
head in profile, with a long beard; Homer as a statue;
heads. Among the opaque stones is a cameo with the A
Emp. Claudius, one of the lar.
Octavia. Between the glass-ca golden Vase, adorned with enamel and
cameos. — The collection of Assyrian Cylinders and Etruscan and Greek
Scarabaei also may be mentioned.
On the S. side of the Lange Voorhout, at No.7, is the Ministry
of Marine (P1. 10; D, 4). — Opposite the Kneuterdyk, at the corner
of Parkstraat (p. 336), is the Minisiry of Finance (P1. 7; D, 4),
originally the house of Oldenbarnevelt (p. 329).
b. The Rest of the Old Town.
The main centres of business activity are the ‘Lange Poten’, the
street beginning at the S.W. angle of the Plein (p. 348), and its
continuation, the Spuisrraat (Pl. D, 0,5), which is always thronged
with people towards evening. — The Spui, a canal now filled up,
leads hence to the S. to the —
Nieuwe Kerk (Pl. D, 6; sacristan, Bezem-Straat 19), with
wooden vaulting, begun in 1649; it contains the tombs of the De
Witts (p. 329) and of Spinoza (p. 376). The latter, situated under
the slab marked ‘B 162’, to the right of the pulpit, was a temporary
gtave only, and Spinoza’s remains were afterwards removed.
Spinoza’s House, Paviljoens-Gracht 72-74, opposite the Doublet-Straat
(Pl. C, 6), has been completely rebuilt. The great philosopher occupied
a garret-room here from 1671 down to his death in 1677, in the family
of Hendrik van der Spyck, the painter. Spinoza’s first residence (1670)
was on the second floor of Veerkade 32, which has remained practically
unaltered. Adjacent is a bronze Statue of Spinoza (Pl. C, 6), by Hexamer,
erected in 1880.
From about the middle of the Spuistraat a Passage (Pl. D, 5),
or arcade, with many attractive shops, leads (r.) to the Buitenhof
(p. 329) and the Grornsmarxr (Pl. 0, 5). On the W. the latter is
adjoined by the Vrscumarxt (Pl. C, 6).
The “Town Hall (adm., see p. 318), completed in 1565, restored
by Barth. van Bassen about 1647, enlarged in 1734 by the addition
of the N. wing, and again restored and extended in 1882-83, stands
on the H, side of the Vischmarkt. This picturesque building is one
of the most interesting of its class in Holland. It belongs to the
beginning of the period in which the flowing forms that charac- |
