The Hall of Knights and Art!

Tuesday, the class travelled to the Dutch House of Representatives, where we learned a lot about Dutch politics. Afterwards, we went to the Haags Historisch Museum and Panorama Mesdag.

Figure 1: The Hall of Knights where the Dutch queen sits on her throne and delivers a speech to the public so they know what to expect for the coming year. 

The Hall of Knights has a lot of history. When Napoleon V was in charge, he had his soldiers sleep here because it was close to the field where they needed to be to fight in battle. When the French left, there was a huge hole to the right of the photo, so the hall was a semi open market. Today, the hall is used as a meeting hall where the Queen (who is the head of state), reads a note of what you can expect for the New Year. In addition, the cabinet presents news of their plans of government. 11,000 people can be seated here on Budget Day, when all the news related to government is announced. This once a year meeting is a good way to gather together all the people of the country so everyone is on the same page. In the reader, it mentions how the Dutch make sure everyone’s opinion is heard and clear communication is practiced so there is no misunderstanding. Communication is necessary in order for the nation to move as one unit.

Figure 2: The ceiling of the Hall of Knights is modeled after a Viking ship, which gives the hall even more special meaning.

The Viking ship served as a war ship with both pragmatic and religious purposes. These ships allowed control of the waterways, which were of critical importance should one want to dominate and be successful in trading, thus Viking ships eventually evolved into symbols of power and prowess. Through cultural and practical significance, the Viking ship progressed into the most powerful, advanced naval vessel in Viking Age Europe. The roof of the Hall of Knights gives a little insight to what the image the people of the Netherlands desires. The Hall resembles a place where prowess and power of the different districts in the Netherlands gather together to collaborate and advance the country to the next step in becoming one of the most powerful, influential nations in the world.

Afterwards, we toured the newly built building where the House of Representatives and the Senate meet for 3 days straight and learned about the Dutch political system. The tour guide is a student in political science, so she had her opinions on the Dutch system. She mentioned how the House of Representatives has the most power since their votes directly affect who gets elected. She then compared the Dutch system to the American system of voting, since the president is indirectly chosen via electoral votes. I'm not really into politics, nor have I studied it in depth, but I got the impression that as long as there's a system that works for the country, everything should be able to run smoothly.


Of the two art museums we visited, I was most impressed by the Panorama Mesdag, the world's oldest surviving panorama-painting. We entered into a small hut which was encompassed by the images of a beach and small city in the Netherlands. The top of the piece was covered by the top of the hut and the bottom of the piece was hidden by real sand, tricking the audience into thinking that what they were seeing was the real thing. Many of my classmates mentioned how everything in the panorama was moving, and they felt what the artist wanted his audience to feel. I was personally impressed with how accurate this piece portrayed reality, but my senses were not tricked into thinking everything was moving. The moment I entered the room of the panorama, I immediately noticed how the waves weren't crashing into the beach, nor were the flags actually moving according to the wind, nor were the smoke from the chimneys moving as they should have been. I guess my observation of broken physical laws made me miss out on the effect my classmates experienced, but all together, I enjoyed seeing such a beautiful and well-made piece of art.