The Binnenhof should have become an ‘imperial palace’ in the thirteenth century

Two ministers, an alderman and the chairman of the Senate are in a excavated basement with the project leader of the Binnenhof renovation. They each wear a white construction helmet, protective shoes and white vests. One floor higher are the journalists, with a view of the excavated hole.

The Binnenhof has been renovated since 2021, and that is accompanied by archaeological research. Archaeologists from the municipality of The Hague have made finds that tell news about the first building history of almost eight hundred years ago. The findings were presented on Monday afternoon.

Updated foundations and soil finds show that the Binnenhof was bigger in the thirteenth century than until now, the court had ‘royal architecture’, the ambition was to turn it into an ‘imperial palace’.

« There was a floor above, » Minister Keijzer gestures from the hole, with one hand above her head. As Minister for Housing, Mona Keijzer is responsible for the Central Government Real Estate Agency, and the renovation of the Binnenhof. « You had to remove that floor, you found sand. And then you went to remove that sand, » she helps the project leader on the way.

It is precisely the placement of the dockers that corresponds to how that happened in imperial palaces

The walls that have been uncovered « are the first walls of the very beginning of the Binnenhof, » explains project leader Peter van Leeuwen. In that initial phase in the thirteenth century the foundation was laid for the structure of the current Binnenhof. In the basement where the ministers are standing, dockers came out. People had to do their needs, Van Leeuwen explains, even in the thirteenth century. « And we are in that, » Keijzer adds.

‘Imperial Palace’

This medieval toilet installation provided valuable information for building historian Hein Hundertark, designated by the Central Government Real Estate Agency to do research. He can bring the new analysis on Monday that the Binnenhof was much bigger in the thirteenth century than a burial residence: it was an almost « imperial palace. »

It is precisely the placement of the dockers that corresponds to how that happened in imperial palaces. That is not the only discovery. The ‘imperial’ is also in a gate that has been discovered, a predecessor of the Stadhouderspoort who still offers access to the Binnenhof. And in the architecture style, which is related to the palaces of emperor Frederik I ‘Barbarossa’ (1122-1190). Compared to burial residences from the thirteenth century, this complex « heads and shoulders, » said the building historian.

Resident Count Willem II (1227-1257) therefore had something higher in mind, says Hundertark. After his election as a Roman king, he had the Rolgebouw built at the Binnenhof, his residential palace. For that building, William II, who had the ambition to become emperor, was inspired by imperial palaces. The Rolgebouw looks imperial, but may not be mentioned according to Hundertark: the man died before he became Emperor.

Royal rooms

His successor, Graaf Floris V, built on his father’s striving for a grand inner court. Against the Rolgebouw on he had the Ridderzaal built, with which, according to Hundertark, he took an example of the « big kings in England and France, who had large royal rooms. » He replaced the first gatehouse that Willem II had placed with a new gatehouse, flanked by a wall and a narrow extension. That new construction, the Government Real Estate Agency, thinks better on the grandeur of the Ridderzaal, which was then one of the largest room buildings in Europe. Both the father and his son built just a step further than their position, concludes Hundertmark: « Royal architecture built by a count, and imperial architecture built by a king. »

During the presentation on Monday, Minister Keijzer asks if more discoveries are expected. « We had actually hoped not, » says Senate chairman Jan Anthonie Bruijn, soft, but hard enough. Big chance of yes.

Most users of the Binnenhof, including the Senate and the House of Representatives, moved to temporary accommodations due to the renovation in 2021. The last officials left in 2024. The renovation would initially last five years, but that turned out to be unfeasible. A new deadline, 2028, will also be passed. The costs are also higher: they are estimated at two billion, where half a billion was first expected.

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