The Hague Academy of International Law

The Peace Palace (Dutch: Vredespaleis; pronounced [ˈvreːdəspaˌlɛis]) is an international law administrative building in The Hague, the Netherlands. It houses the International Court of Justice (which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), The Hague Academy of International Law and the Peace Palace Library. The Palace officially opened on 28 August 1913; it was originally built to provide a home for the PCA, a court created to end war by the Hague Convention of 1899. Andrew Dickson White, whose efforts were instrumental in creating the court, secured from Scottish-American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie US$1.5 million ($50,000,000, adjusted for inflation) to build the Peace Palace. The European Heritage Label was awarded to the Peace Palace on 8 April 2014.

The Peace Palace Library is a collection of studies and references specializing in international law. It is located in The Hague, Netherlands, and was established to support the Permanent Court of Justice.

The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several centuries old), the Court was initially well-received from states and academics alike, with many cases submitted to it for its first decade of operation. Between 1922 and 1940 the Court heard a total of 29 cases and delivered 27 separate advisory opinions. With the heightened international tension in the 1930s, the Court became less used. By a resolution from the League of Nations on 18 April 1946, both the Court and the League ceased to exist and were replaced by the International Court of Justice and the United Nations. The Court's mandatory jurisdiction came from three sources: the Optional Clause of the League of Nations, general international conventions and special bipartite international treaties. Cases could also be submitted directly by states, but they were not bound to submit material unless it fell into those three categories. The Court could issue either judgments or advisory opinions. Judgments were directly binding but not advisory opinions. In practice, member states of the League of Nations followed advisory opinions anyway for fear of possibly undermining the moral and legal authority of the Court and the League.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ; French: Cour internationale de justice; CIJ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordance with international law and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. The ICJ is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between countries, with its rulings and opinions serving as primary sources of international law. The ICJ is the successor of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was established in 1920 by the League of Nations. After the Second World War, both the league and the PCIJ were replaced by the United Nations and ICJ, respectively. The Statute of the ICJ, which sets forth its purpose and structure, draws heavily from that of its predecessor, whose decisions remain valid. All member states of the UN are party to the ICJ Statute and may initiate contentious cases; however, advisory proceedings may only be submitted by certain UN organs and agencies. The ICJ consists of a panel of 15 judges elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms. No more than one judge of each nationality may be represented on court at the same time, and judges collectively must reflect the principal civilizations and legal systems of the world. Seated in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICJ is the only principal UN organ not located in New York City. Its official working languages are English and French. Since the entry of its first case on 22 May 1947, the ICJ has entertained 181 cases through September 2021.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, which was built to house the PCA. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides administrative support in international arbitrations involving various combinations of states, state entities, international organizations and private parties. The cases span a wide range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade. The PCA is constituted through two separate multilateral conventions with a combined membership of 128 Contracting Parties. The PCA is not a United Nations agency, but has been a United Nations observer since 1993. The PCA was established by the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, which concluded at The Hague in 1899 during the first Hague Peace Conference of 1899. The Conference had been convened at the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia "with the object of seeking the most objective means of ensuring to all peoples the benefits of a real and lasting peace, and above all, of limiting the progressive development of existing armaments". In the first three decades of its existence, the PCA was a major forum for resolving inter-state disputes. Subsequently, the organization registered a decrease in activity due to the creation of the Permanent Court of International Justice. In the 21st century, the PCA has resurged as a venue for inter-state arbitrations and resolving investor-state disputes and is currently administering over 210 dispute resolution proceedings, making it the most active international court in The Hague. In June 2026, the Court was acting as registry in 7 inter-state arbitrations, 1 other inter-state proceeding, 90 arbitrations arising under bilateral or multilateral investment treaties or national investment laws, 101 arbitrations arising under contracts involving a State or other public entity, and 11 other proceedings.

The Mesdag Collection is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum is housed next to the former house of the Dutch painter Hendrik Willem Mesdag and shows the art Mesdag and his wife Sina van Houten collected from 1866 to 1903. It features work of the painters of the Hague School like Willem Roelofs and Anton Mauve and work of the French Barbizon School (Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Théodore Rousseau, Jean-François Millet, Charles-François Daubigny and Eugène Delacroix and paintings of Lawrence Alma-Tadema. There is also a large collection of Japanese art and Japanese craftwork (pottery) on show. This all is shown in a typical 19th-century setting. The museum was closed for renovation until Spring 2011. On 14 May 2011 it was re-opened and renamed from "Museum Mesdag" to "The Mesdag Collection". The Panorama Mesdag is housed in different premises within easy walking distance from The Mesdag Collection.

The Apostolic Nunciature to the Netherlands the diplomatic mission of the Holy See to the Netherlands. It is located in The Hague. The current Apostolic Nuncio is Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, who was named to the position by Pope Francis on 21 March 2015. The Apostolic Nunciature to the Kingdom of the Netherlands is an ecclesiastical office of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, with the rank of an embassy. The nuncio serves both as the ambassador of the Holy See to the King of the Netherlands, and as delegate and point-of-contact between the Catholic hierarchy in the Netherlands and the Pope.

NIBC Bank N.V. is a commercial bank in the Netherlands offering corporate and retail banking products and services. Its corporate banking activities range from advising, structuring, financing and co-investing across debt and equity in Northwest Europe with a focus on the Netherlands and Germany. The retail banking activities primarily consist of mortgage lending in the Netherlands and online retail savings products and services in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium via the NIBC Direct brand. NIBC Bank N.V. is a 100 per cent subsidiary of NIBC Holding N.V., a listed entity which is in turn majority owned by a consortium of international financial institutions and investors organised by J.C. Flowers & Co. NIBC has offices in The Hague, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Brussels. As of 2016, NIBC Bank was the ninth-largest bank in the Netherlands in terms of total assets.

The Albanian embassy in The Hague (Albanian: Ambasada Shqiptare në Hagë, Dutch: Albanese Ambassade in Den Haag) is Albania's diplomatic mission to the Netherlands. It is located at Hoge Nieuwstraat 22 2514EL Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Albania and the Kingdom of the Netherlands were established on 17 November 1970.The current Ambassador of Albania in the Netherlands is Aida Sakiqi.

The Zeeheldenkwartier (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈzeːɦɛldə(ŋ)kʋɑrˌtiːr], literally Sea Heroes Quarter) is a neighbourhood in the Centrum district of The Hague, Netherlands. It has 11,205 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2013) and covers an area of 81.3 hectares (0.314 sq mi). It is bordered by the Carnegielaan, the Zeestraat, the Hoge Wal and the Prinsessewal to the north-east, the Veenkade to the south, the Waldeck Pyrmontkade to the south-west and the Laan van Meerdervoort to the Carnegielaan to the north. Built between 1870 and 1890, the style of the buildings differs between larger houses for important officials near the Willemspark and the Laan van Meerdervoort, and predominantly smaller houses nearer to the city centre. It has also the most Coffeeshops in town. And it has from Albert Heijn the biggest supermarket in town called “Albert Heijn XL”.

The Gymnasium Haganum is one of the oldest public schools in the Netherlands, located in the city of The Hague. First mentioned in 1327, the school is currently housed in a monumental Renaissance Revival architecture building, built in 1907. It has around 700 students, and is one of the top schools in the country, according to a yearly survey by the Dutch magazine Elsevier.The name gymnasium refers to the type of school, the Dutch gymnasium. This type of secondary school is comparable to English grammar schools and U.S. college prep schools. In the Netherlands the gymnasium consists of six years in which pupils study the usual school subjects, with the addition of compulsory Ancient Greek and Latin, plus extra emphasis on academic and artistic skills. In 1963, the movie Feest! ("Party!"), directed by former alumnus Paul Verhoeven, was shot here.

Artiestenhof is a hofje in the Trompstraat in the Dutch city of The Hague. It is a side street by the Piet Hein. Around 1850, the older part of the Trompstraat had five courtyards and many businesses. The street was christened in 1872 by Sophie of the Netherlands, who was the owner of the land. The Trompstraat was extended around 1875 with higher-end properties. The painters hofjes in the older part of the street and over the years was the residence of numerous notable artists, include Henk Bremmer who lived there from 1902 until his death in 1956. In the middle of the courtyard is a large communal garden, which before World War II was divided so that all houses had their own piece of garden.