Because of eastern we had an extra long weekend last week. The kids had a day off from school and my wife and I from work. We wanted to do something together, but that can be quite hard with teenagers that mostly like shopping.
When we said we were going to combine a visit to a castle with the visit to a city they weren't too enthusiastic about one part of that idea. You might guess which part.

Loevestein castle

In the Netherlands we have quite a lot of castles. I've looked it up and we seem to have over 700 of them. A couple of them are owned by the Dutch royal family and some are in private hands. Others, like castle Loevestein are open for public as a museum.

Castle Loevenstein in the distance

The story of the book chest

Loevestein Castle is very well known in the Netherlands. This is because every Dutchmen has heard this story during history lessons on school.
It's the true story about Hugo de Groot (a.k.a Hugo Grotius). Hugo was a Dutch lawyer and philosopher in the 17th century. He supported a political leader Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, who disagreed with the then ruling prince, Maurits about religion and power. During that time there was a big conflict in the Netherlands between two groups of Protestants: the strict Calvinists and the more tolerant Remonstrants.
Maurits had van Oldenbarnevelt arrested and executed. Hugo Grotius was not a political leader, so considered less dangerous than van Oldenbarneveld, so they sentenced him to life in prison for his ideas.

Painting of Hugo de Groot

Hugo was brought to Loevestein Castle which which was not a prison for not for common criminals, but was used for political prisoners.
Families were sometimes allowed to stay with the prisoners, especially if the prisoner was educated or from a higher social class like Hugo de Groot. These prisoners also had more privileges. The detention of Hugo de Groot was more like house arrest inside a fortress.

The castle with a moat and a drawbridge

One of the other privileges Hugo de Groot had was that he was allowed to receive books. This was because he was seen as an intellectual being a scholar and lawyer. Reading and studying were part of his daily life.
The books were brought to Hugo every couple of months in a big wooden chest.
It was in 1621 that Hugo's wife came up with a plan to escape. Instead of the books Hugo himself climbed in the chest. When the chest was picked up by the guards to be brought back, Hugo managed to escape from his imprisonment.
After he escaped from the castle he was helped by friends and fled to France and lived there in exile.
It's an amazing, but true story!

A wooden chest in the chambre where Hugo was held captive. Not the original chest though. That has never been found again.

Other history

Loevenstein Castle was built in the 14th century on the banks of the river Waal. It was originally built as a fortress to protect the region and control river traffic. Along the river there are multiple fortesses that were built to protect the country. Over time they turned Loevestein into a state prison.
After its role as a fortress and prison it was used as a military base in the 19th century. In 1969 Loevestein became a museum. It was completely restored and opened up for public.
And that is why we were able to visit it last weekend and make a tour through the museum. We could visit all rooms including the one where Hugo de Groot was held captive.
It was funny when you think about the fact that we walked over the bridge where the book chest with Hugo de Groot in it was carried over hundreds of years earlier.

The entry to the museum

Opposites

During the time of Hugo de Groot there were two groups of believers; Remonstrants and Calvinist. The Calvinists were more strict and the Remonstrants were more moderate and tolerant in their beliefs. This led to a theological conflict and people being executed and put in prison.
When we visited the museum there was a temporary exhibition about opposites. In the exhibition there was a focus on polarisation. The 'we' and 'them' mentality. This is something of all times. It happened between the Calvinists and the Remonstrants, but we still see it nowadays. It still happens between different religions, but also with different political ideas. People try to portray their 'opponents' badly.

The exhibition aims to foster understanding and tolerance by educating visitor that people are more than their opinions and that dialogue can lead to connection.

Entry gate to the museum

My opinion (and some more photos)

I always like to visit historic places. I love it how well some of these castles are preserved. It really can take you back to the middle ages.
The exhibition had a lot of 'open doors'. I do think it is good to educate kids to look further than the differences there are between them and others and keep having dialogues with people.
It was a nice experience having visited this site which I have learned about in my history classes when I was young. I can recommend anyone to visit Loevestein Castle when you are in the neighborhood.

Seats embedded in the castle walls



Armor of a knight

Some of the narrow staircases that lead to the other floors

Small slingshot that was in one of the rooms

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