Scheveningen, Netherlands

 

Scheveningen is a district of The Hague, named after a fishing town that subsequently became a seaside resort and district in The Hague.

 

Layout

The Scheveningen district consists of the following districts. (The CBS district code of each district consists of the code for The Hague (0518) and the district number, for example 01 for Oostduinen.)

District 01 Oostduinen (CBS district code: 051801)
District 02 Belgisch Park (CBS district code: 051802)
Wijk 03 Westbroekpark and Duttendel (CBS neighborhood code: 051803)
District 06 Van Stolkpark and Scheveningse Bosjes (CBS district code: 051806)
District 07 Scheveningen (CBS district code: 051807), consisting of the following neighborhoods:
Vissershaven (Havenkwartier)
Scheveningen-Dorp, or Old Scheveningen
Scheveningen-Seaside resort
Fishery area
Driving stroke
Norfolk

District 08 Duindorp (CBS district code: 051808)
District 09 Geuzen- and Statenkwartier (Statistics Netherlands district code: 051809)
District 10 Zorgvliet (CBS district code: 051810)
District 11 Duinoord (CBS district code: 051811)

The original core of Scheveningen is located in Scheveningen-Dorp, but not much can be found of the former buildings before the major demolition and subsequent new construction of the district. The most characteristic part of the old village can be found at the Oude Kerk. Original Scheveningers feel like Scheveningen, not The Hague.

 

Destinations

After the Reformation in the Netherlands gained support in the course of the 16th century, the population of Scheveningen predominantly opted for the Low German Reformed Church, which later became the Dutch Reformed Church, which has now merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The only primary school for reformational education in the municipality of The Hague, the Eben-Haëzerschool, can be found in Scheveningen.

The Roman Catholic population was at least until the beginning of the 19th century limited to villagers who came from outside. These had mainly settled in the coastal village as tradespeople or as craftsmen and they did not or hardly mingle with the descendants of the indigenous orthodox fishing families. During the pillarisation the Reformed column in Scheveningen was strongly represented. Despite the depollution from the sixties, there is still a constituency in Scheveningen who invariably votes the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Feest or ChristenUnie. Scheveningen has proportionally more voters for these two parties in elections than other districts in The Hague.

 

Denominations

Museums: Museum Beelden aan Zee, Atlantikwall Museum Scheveningen, Bunker Museum The Hague, Muzee Scheveningen.
Locations (outside): Boulevard, pier, Scheveningen-Dorp, Scheveningen Bosjes, Havenkwartier, Oostduinpark, beach, nudist beach between kilometer marker 95.7 and 98, Norfolk Line Terrain, Zwarte Pad.
Buildings and monuments: Lighthouse, Memorial Knife, Old Church, Kurhaus, Pavilion Von Wied, Antonius Abtkerk, New Bath Chapel, Our Lady of Lourdes Church with Lourdes Cave, Pniel Church, Princess Juliana Church; Leonardo da Vinci tower (or Leonardo da Vinci building, with a gold-colored sphere on top; the height of the building, in combination with that sphere, makes the building easily recognizable in silhouette in the Scheveningen skyline).
Attractions: Madurodam, Circus Theater, Holland Casino, Sealife Scheveningen, Ferris wheel

Scheveningen has many types of Protestant churches, such as can be found in the Bible Belt.

Protestant Church in the Netherlands:
Old church
Bethel Church
New Bath Chapel
Princess Juliana Church
Zorgvlietkerk

Christian Reformed Church
Reformed Church (liberated)
Reformed Church
Eben-Haëzerkerk
Old Reformed Congregation in the Netherlands
Restored Reformed Church
Baptist Church Scheveningen
Salvation Army Scheveningen Corps
Evangelical Church 'Morgenstond'

Catholic Church:
H. Antonius Abtkerk
Lourdes chapel

 

Events

Flag Day
Fireworks festival Scheveningen, August
Red Bull Knock Out Motocross event on the beach.
Triple Ooievaarsrun, 2nd Saturday of September, tour with trucks for the disabled.
Hipfest Annual pop festival with indoor and outdoor stages.
GraaiTijd Also called Flag Week. The days before Flag Day a cultural event with a lot of live music.
Prinsjespop Annual pop festival, the Saturday before Prinsjesdag.
Schollenpop Pop festival on the beach.
Historical Festival Scheveningen Festival with old costumes and many stalls.
In both Scheveningen and Duindorp, New Year's fires are burned on the beach every year at New Year, with a mutual competition to see who has the highest. However, the tradition surrounding the Bonfires ended up in controversy after a fire that got out of hand on Scheveningen during the night of 2018-2019. Since then the bonfires have stopped taking place.

 

History

Name

The historiography does not provide a definitive answer about the age of Scheveningen. As with other Dutch places ending in the suffix (suffix) '-ings', it is said that research by a name has shown that its origin lies in the 10th or 11th century. The name in question appears for the first time in a count's register that was partly drawn up around 1284. There is talk of an area that is described as a 'terra de Sceveninghe' (land of Scheveningen). It has sometimes been claimed that a family called Scheven - which owned a castle near Haarlem and settled in the vicinity of Leiderdorp in the 14th century - has something to do with the village or with the name Scheveningen, but there is no indication for this. .

Sometimes mentioned, but never substantiated, foreign influences are also not demonstrable. History shows that the origin of Scheveningen must have been a purely Dutch affair. Within the already mentioned 'terra de Sceveninghe', an older residential center is likely to have been situated; This could be an agricultural community, a hamlet, located a few kilometers further inland from the coast.

Knowledge about that time is quite limited; however, the social geographer Dr. J.K. de Cock in an article entitled Scheveningen-Binnen and Scheveningen aan Zee, wrote something about this that can serve as a substantiation. Also in the reference work The soil of 's-Gravenhage by E.F.J. de Mulder, De Cock returns with a contribution to this older 'Sceveninghe'. In his opinion, the old hamlet - one might think in the 12th or 13th century - has disappeared under the sand due to prolonged sand drifts.

 

Coastal location

In addition to the older hamlet, there is the coastal village that is now called Scheveningen. It is built on young dunes that developed along the North Sea coast around the 12th century. The current Scheveningen is mentioned for the first time in a deed of 1357, in which villagers request a count's favor with an official document.

The residence of the counts of Holland, which developed in the course of the 13th century near the hamlet of Die Haghe, is probably the start of the present day Scheveningen. Increasing demand for sea fish from the new, rich settlement may have resulted in fishermen settling on the nearest coastal strip.

A count's decision in the late Middle Ages meant that Scheveningen did not become independent, but was only allowed to represent itself with one seat in the alderman's bank in The Hague.

 

Development

The village has been ravaged by storm tides many times in history, usually washing away part of the buildings. In 1570, half of the village disappeared into the waves during the All Saints' Flood, leaving the church on the edge - which is still the case today.

According to a census in 1680, 917 people lived in 200 houses in Scheveningen. About 250 of these were engaged in fishing. Other professions were auctioneer, line turner, ship carpenter and fishmonger. Non-fishery-related professions included thatch, shoemaker, tailor, carpenter and baker.

 

Until the mid-seventeenth century, Scheveningen was only connected to The Hague by a dune path, the Westerpad, which ended at Noordeinde in The Hague. In 1665, the Scheveningseweg, built to a design by Constantijn Huygens, was completed, a long, straight road, which significantly improved the connection. Jacob Cats had a country retreat built along this road with the name Zorgvliet. Other wealthy people, especially when Scheveningen emerged as a seaside resort after 1800, had country houses and villas built outside the old village - and especially to the northeast and east of it. Other buildings from earlier times are the no longer existing Kalhuis, a guard house for people who had to point out a berth on the beach when they landed, and the remarkable Nieuw Soetenburgh country house, at the head of the Keizerstraat.

 

Slum

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the village of Scheveningen consisted of only a few streets. In the course of the nineteenth century the slums and courtyards were created, which could develop freely behind the houses that were located on the building lines of the streets. Because no urban building regulations applied for this construction in so-called slums (then no unfavorable qualification!), Construction was cheap and poorly built. Partly due to the lack of fresh air in the humid houses, which were located in neighborhoods where there was no sewerage, the chance of infectious diseases breaking out was high. There were regular epidemics, of which the one from 1832, with hundreds of victims, was only one. The Blood Gate was one of the most controversial courtyards for several reasons, albeit mainly in a negative sense. Everything that was bad about courtyards could be found in the Blood Gate.

From 1900 on, on the basis of alarming reports and reports, serious consideration was given to the problem of poor housing in the city and the remediation of slum construction was soon started. The remediation was not completed until around 1935. Duindorp was one of the new housing estates that were built from the beginning of the 20th century.

 

Canal and inland port

In 1862 the canal connecting Scheveningen with The Hague and the Dutch inland waterways was completed. This allowed Scheveningen to transport the fish to the region. The canal in Scheveningen has now been filled in, but the inner harbor can still be recognized by the street names: Badhuiskade, Havenkade and Haringkade. In 1882 a second canal was built, the discharge canal ('Refreshing canal'), which later flowed into the seaport (1903).

 

Fishing

Sea fishing has shaped the image of the village for hundreds of years. Scheveningen, like other coastal villages on the North Sea, did not have a seaport. That is why fishing boats - first the little finger and in the course of the 19th century the type of barge - sailed from the beach and landed with their catches on it. This fishery was mainly aimed at catching flatfish and roundfish.

From the middle of the 19th century, Scheveningen started to focus more and more on herring fishing. The lugger also made its appearance there as a fishing vessel and after the arrival of its own seaport, opened in 1903, Scheveningen excelled for many years in fishing for herring by means of skate fishing. This lasted until the late 1960s. From 1905 the fish had to be auctioned at the harbor (and no longer on the beach), but the fishermen soon complained about a lack of space for it. To meet the complaints, a shed was put into use as a fish auction for the auctions in 1911, but it was soon found too small.

Problems related to the overfishing of the North Sea, obsolete fishing vessels and changed fishing techniques heralded the end of the large scale of the local herring fishery. Nowadays, only a limited number of ships fish for herring and then only for a short period of time.

The current Scheveningen fishing fleet consists of fifteen large to very large stern trawlers, a number of which sail under a foreign flag because of the allocated fishing quotas. These ships fish all over the world. The fishing fleet also consists of five cutters, which often catch their fish in the North Sea. There are also a few cutters that are registered in other Dutch fishing towns, but are owned by shipping company Jaczon, which, like shipping company W. van der Zwan, has Scheveningen as its home port.

Fishing vessels from Scheveningen can be recognized by their number, which always starts with SCH.

 

Inspiration for painters

In the 19th century, Scheveningen provided inspiration for painters of the Hague School, such as Jozef Israëls, Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Anton Mauve. Mesdag painted the 'Panorama Mesdag' in 1881. Vincent van Gogh was also inspired by Scheveningen and the fishing industry in his period in The Hague.

 

Seaside resort

In the year 1818, the Scheveninger Jacob Pronk Nz. the first bathhouse, a small wooden building with a waiting room and four bathrooms with a sea view. In 1820 he replaced it with a stone building. In 1828, Pronk was bought out by the municipality of The Hague, which had the Stedelijk Badhuis built here, a building with a central section and two wings. The Municipal Bath was converted into a hotel when the private foundation Maatschappij Zeebad built the Kurhaus in 1884 with the help of the municipality. This Italian Renaissance-style building burned down a year later, but was immediately rebuilt. In 1901 the Kurhaus was directly connected to the newly built pedestrian head (Pier). The number of sleeping places in Scheveningen has continued to grow ever since.

Scheveningen is particularly dependent in summer to a large extent on day tourism from the Netherlands and Germany in particular.

 

Inns and hotels

The assumption that the increase in the number of inns in the coastal village has developed favorably thanks to the arrival of visitors from The Hague and the surrounding area is incorrect. [Source?] After all, it concerned fair weather visitors; they will therefore not have visited Scheveningen and its North Sea every day. At right angles to this is a fact regarding fish buyers. Professionally, they were obliged to be present daily at sea fish auctions on the beach of Scheveningen. The coastal village did not have enough good water to drink. The alternative therefore became beer. This had to come from The Hague. Some villagers provided the continuous presence of beer that was brought in from The Hague by beer trucks. Given the poverty of the villagers, it must have been the cheap thin beer. Fish buyers from outside the village who had to attend some fish auctions every day had to spend the 'void' between the different auctions in a village that had nothing to offer. So they turned to the beer-leading villagers to quench their first thirst. It probably will not have remained with a pitcher of beer. A hunger that had meanwhile arisen could be satisfied by a fried fish and a piece of bread. The beer-pouring villager was able to provide this with the help of his wife or his maidservant. On the one hand, this created an expanding service to the fish buyers. On the other hand, things got out of hand: that is why in a law of 1571 it was even laid down that fish buyers who continued to digest while the next fish auction had already started, were fined for this. What was initiated by the professional visitors also benefited the visitors to the sea and beach, who took a drink and a snack before their return. The large hotels were created from the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. This took place in the northern part of the coastal village where a seaside resort had started to develop turbulently. The most famous hotel is the Kurhaus, which was built in 1884.

 

WWII

Like many other places on the North Sea coast, Scheveningen was declared a Sperrgebiet in 1942. The German occupiers feared an invasion somewhere on the North Sea coast and decided to build the Atlantic Wall, a wall that should stop the Allies from the North Cape to the French-Spanish border. The designation to Sperrgebiet meant for Scheveningen that the parts of the village closest to the coast were designated as prohibited areas. After that, the residents of most of Scheveningen had to evacuate the village immediately. The coastal strip was now converted into a defense line. Buildings were demolished or stripped of their purpose, streets were stripped of their stones, and trenches and foxholes dotted around the coast. A heavy concrete wall over much of the boulevard was supposed to stop Allied tanks. Elsewhere a wide ditch was dug, also to ward off tanks. All this meant that Scheveningen, both the seaside resort part and the old village, was completely dismantled after the war. This also explains the new construction that was completed after the war years.

In memory of this period, the Atlantikwall Museum Scheveningen has existed since 2005, with a permanent exhibition space in an original German command bunker of the type 608 (Abteilung oder Regiments Gefechtsstand) in the Nieuwe Scheveningse Bosjes on Badhuisweg, opposite numbers 119-133. Temporary exhibitions and guided tours are held regularly.

 

The Scheveningen prison (later Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden) on the Van Alkemadelaan remained in use during the war years. The prisoners were mainly resistance fighters and political opponents of the German occupiers; those involved were interrogated at various locations in Scheveningen and The Hague. Due to the attitude of its residents, the facility was called Oranjehotel. After World War II, pro-German and NSB members were interned in the Duindorp district of Scheveningen, which had become uninhabited due to the large-scale evacuation.

 

Culture

In Scheveningen, a small number of predominantly elderly women still wear local Scheveningen costume.

The local dialect, Scheveningen, is rarely spoken by young people. Due to the closed nature of the original village community, many similar family names can be found in Scheveningen. This led to the introduction of nicknames in local usage in order to better distinguish families from each other. For example from the Pronk family, including 'the horse man', 'Piet the mouse', 'Toothless born' or 'Gerrit de sermon'. If you were a Pronk, a Scheveninger would automatically ask 'whose are you here?' to which the person addressed responded with, for example, 'from the horse man'. Some common, 'typical Scheveningen' family names are, for example, Bal, Dijkhuizen, Groen, Korving, Den Heijer, Knoester, De Niet, Plugge, Pronk, Rog, Spanish, Taal, Toet, Van der Toorn, Vrolijk, Zuurmond and Van der Zwan. . Due to the opening up of the fishing village from the beginning of the 20th century, this phenomenon has gradually become obsolete.