GEVANGENPOORT MUSEUM
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One of the oldest buildings in The Hague where the Museum of Torture is housed and where the history of the judicial process is explored
The Gevangenpoort is one of the oldest buildings in The Hague. It is housed in the former fortified gate of the 14th-century Castle of the Counts, where a number of illustrious boarders were interrogated. This is where you'll find the very interesting Torture Museum, with its collection of objects and paintings, as well as a slide show that takes you back into the history of legal proceedings. You can also see Cornelis de Witt's cell and learn all about this murky affair. Johan de Witt was a very popular statesman at the time, having succeeded in restoring the finances of the United Provinces and led several victorious wars against Sweden and England. He had the Exclusion Act of 1667 promulgated, which suspended the office of stadhouder and thus sidelined William III of Nassau. Having failed to prevent the invasion of Holland by Louis XIV's troops in 1672, Johan de Witt became the object of popular vindictiveness. William III of Nassau decided to eliminate him. Shortly after the French attack, the Orangemen came to arrest Cornelis de Witt, Johan's brother and burgomaster of Dordrecht, for refusing to participate in the repeal of the Act of Exclusion. Incarcerated in The Hague, he was tortured and accused of conspiring against Prince William. His brother Johan was caught in a trap when he came to visit him in prison, and accused of the same charges. The rampaging mob lynched the two men in the nearby square, and they are said to have been eaten.
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