Description of the attraction
Peace Palace is a building in The Hague that houses the UN International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Academy of International Law, and the Peace Palace library.
The palace was built in 1907-1913. funded by American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. At the end of the 19th century, the idea of world peace flourished with an unusually magnificent color. International conferences were held, the ideas of pacifism gained more and more supporters. The culmination of these sentiments can be considered the grand opening of the Peace Palace. However, the wonderful ideas of the supporters of peace did not come true - just a year after the opening of the Peace Palace, a war began, which would later be called world war.
For the construction of the palace, a special "Carnegie Foundation" was established, in whose jurisdiction the building is still. The architectural competition was won by a project by Frenchman Luis Cordonnier in the neo-Renaissance style, combining Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine styles. During the construction, changes were made to the project: instead of two clock towers, only one was built, and the library was housed inside a large building, and not in a separate one. Compared to traditional Dutch architecture, the building looks pompous and luxurious. The interior decoration of the palace is gifts from the countries participating in the two Hague Peace Conferences. Here you can see Italian marble, Persian carpets, tapestries from Japan, Bohemian crystal and Danish royal porcelain. The clock on the tower is a gift from Switzerland, and Russia presented a jasper vase weighing 3 tons, made by Kolyvan craftsmen.
The Peace Palace Library is the largest collection of books and publications on international law. Not only judges or staff of international courts can work in the library, but also law students.
The palace and park are currently closed to the public.
