Today was another culturally oriented day, in which we spent the day in The Hague–just a short train ride away from Rotterdam Centraal station. Although Amsterdam is the Netherlands’ official capital, The Hague is the seat of government and is also home to organizations such as Eurojust, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Additionally, there are many wonderful museums such as the Mauritshuis–which houses, among other masterpieces, Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring.

After breakfast, we immediately caught a train to the Hague, which is still quite a novelty to me (yes, we have Amtrak back home, but it is not comparable to the Dutch rail system). The ride was only around 25ish minutes as the cities are quite close and often considered as part of the same metropolitan area. After arriving in the city, I immediately set off toward the Mauritshuis. The Mauritshuis is interesting because it was initially the private residence of an extremely well-off Count who also served as Governor of Dutch Brazil. As such, its history is inextricably linked to the slave trade and exploitation of indigenous peoples. Today, the museum has made an effort to tell this story and to acknowledge how the Dutch Golden Age was enabled only through the atrocities enacted by the West and East Indies Companies. It was interesting to see how African servants were included in paintings as exotic props rather than people, such as in Jan Mitjens’ Portrait of Maria of Orange with Hendrik van Nassau-Zuylestein and a Servant. Another example of how Dutch wealth was derived from the exploitation of other lands can be seen in Govert Flinck’s Girl by a High Chair, in which an opulently dressed toddler poses by her greatly adorned high chair, which has candies made from Brazilian sugar cane atop it. The only way this young girl could enjoy those candies was through the suffering of others across the world today–unfortunately, this is still true of many products, including chocolate (see my 05/12 post).

In terms of other pieces of art that caught my eye, Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp was wonderful, as was Jan Davidsz de Heem’s Vase of Flowers (there were many wonderful still lives of flowers and fruits within the museum, but de Heem’s work just seemed a cut above), and Clara Peeters’ Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels was unbelievably detailed. I also appreciated some of the more humorous works in the collection, including peasant works by Adriaen Brouwer, which seemed to satirize the genre, and a still life by Dirck de Bray in which the bouquet was still being arranged. The collection contained many works depicting scenes from the bible and from Greek and Roman mythology, which was very entertaining as there was a human element to the art. I would say that I actually enjoyed this collection more than the Van Gogh museum, although it is certainly a very close call.

After an amazing lunch of Indonesian noodles, we went as a group to the Peace Palace. Our visit to the visitor center was very interesting. On one hand, I was inspired by all that the palace represents and the progress humanity has made toward worldwide peace and collaboration. On the other hand, I was disgusted by how Andrew Carnegie (yes, Pittsburgh’s very own) laundered his name by endowing the construction of the building and how the institutions within the Peace Palace have no real way of enforcing their jurisdiction–it is all mostly symbolic. The Peace Palace has existed since the early 1900s, yet still the First and Second World Wars occurred, as well as a great deal of many other tragedies. The Peace Palace wasn’t and won’t ever be a perfect, absolute solution to global conflict–but I suppose that doesn’t make it a failure. The International Court of Justice and Permanent Court of Arbitration still do a great deal to facilitate peaceful conflict resolution between international bodies and to put all countries on equal footing with one another. Concerning sustainability, this relates directly to the United Nations’ goals of Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, as well as Partnership for the Goals. If we are to tackle any of the social, economic, or environmental problems that threaten our future, every single country will have to work together to do their part. This only happens if we support organizations like those housed within the Peace Palace and honor our commitment to them.

One interesting detail is that the Netherlands was chosen to be the location of the Peace Palace due to its longstanding neutrality within European conflicts, however, this perspective was highly Eurocentric and did not consider the relations the Netherlands had with Africa, Asia, or the Americas. More recently, the judges elected to the ICJ have begun to more closely represent the world population in terms of cultural and geographic diversity, which is very promising. However, the court’s official languages of English and French still show how European colonization is still influential today.

Finally, after seeing the Peace Palace, I went with some friends to the beach. The beaches neighboring the Hague are on the North Sea, which is extremely windy and frigid. It reminded me of vacationing in Maine with my family, except somehow even colder. The view was beautiful, however, and the sound of crashing waves is one of the greatest sounds the human ear can perceive. It was also a little startling to see the huge offshore wind farms looming in the distance, something absent from every North American beach I have been to. I loved visiting the Hague, and would certainly recommend it to anyone visiting the Netherlands–maybe just at a warmer time of year.