A visit to Hofwijck

Last Saturday I went on a very nice outing with my fellow volunteers of the “Volksuniversiteit” in my home town. Being a cultural and educational institute, apart from a nice meal a visit to a museum was to be expected. Our hosts had done everything to make it a most enjoyable day, which it was indeed. A visit to a small 17^th century moated summer house, now a museum, followed by a walk through the old main street of Voorburg with its many interesting gables and places of historic interest, was even better because of the beautiful sunny weather. Not to mention the delicious four or five course Italian buffet dinner which our hosts, the heads of our music department, had so lovingly prepared. 

The original kitchen in the basement

Hofwijck is a place I had never visited and which I have been curious about since childhood. Then it was easily visible from the main road from The Hague to Utrecht, which skirted the house at that time. I wondered who had lived in that small but perfectly symmetrical castle, would have liked to know what was inside. I do not think it was open to the public at that time, and was even neglected. When the road was widened and became busier, and the railway took up space as well, there were even plans in the 60-ies to demolish the house, as happened to so many buildings of historic interest at that time. Fortunately that didn’t happen. But the road cut through a considerable part of the gardens, and so did the railway and the railway station, which are both now on a viaduct.

 Hofwijck

Nowadays the house is a museum and open to the public, as well as what remains of the gardens. And at last, after all these years of wondering what it would look like, I walked across the bridge and through the front door. Coffee and cake were served in the old kitchen in the basement which has a door opening on the moat. Provisions came in by boat. The house was built next to the Vliet, an important river at that time and the main thoroughfare from The Hague to Leyden. The towpath was next to the house, and the first inhabitant, Constantijn Huygens, poet, statesman, and academic, used to hide behind the tall hedge next to the towpath to eavesdrop on conversations of the passengers of the tow barges, the usual means of transport in a land with many rivers, lakes and waterways. He would write poems and stories inspired by the conversations he overheard.

It is amazing how small the house was, given that there were five children as well. But the gardens were very extensive, and it was only a summer house. The Huygens family had a big house in the heart of The Hague. Hofwijck was far from the centre of The Hague, out in the country, next to farmland and orchards. Now it is almost gobbled up and completely enclosed by residential estates, office buildings, roads and in short urbanisation.

Huygens was a true homo universalis, a very learned and intelligent man. So were his children, especially Christian. Some claim that after Einstein Christian is the best scientist in the world.

I have always had respect for Huygens since I learned that the organ culture in protestant churches was largely due to him. After the Reformation protestants did not want to use the pipe organs in the big churches. They were considered instruments of the devil. They would have liked to destroy them, as so many other things were destroyed . Iconoclasm is another word for destruction of our cultural and religious heritage. But because the pipe organs in the churches did not belong to the religious authorities, but to the local authorities, they were spared and were played by the organists appointed by the local government. So although not played during services, they were heard very regularly, because it was hoped that music would keep people away from the many pubs.

Huygens thought the unaccompanied singing of the protestants was awful, and so he encouraged the use of the pipe organs to accompany the psalm singing, hoping that would improve things. In 1641 he wrote an influential book about the use of church organs in religious services. It is strange to realise that now for some protestants only pipe organs are allowed as musical instruments in church services.

If you like to read more, there is some interesting information on the website of the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.

The garden was in the shape of the human body, with the correct proportions, the house being the head and the smallest part. No landscape gardening yet in this garden, but formality. 

Reflection in the moat

 

 Poppies on the bank of the Vliet

The church in Voorburg is connected with Princess Marianne, the only daughter of King William I of the Netherlands by his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia to survive into adulthood. After her marriage with Prince Albert, the fourth son of her mother's brother, King Frederick William III of Prussia broke up, she lived in Voorburg with her lover. She donated a new pipe organ to the church in Voorburg, as she didn’t like the old one there. It is a beautiful organ which is still played. In the church grounds is a statue of Princess Marianne.

 The old church in Voorburg and the statue of Princess Marianne in the grounds

So for me this day was a day with two references to church organs, a highlight for an organ lover like me; even more perfect because of the company, the food and the weather. 

 The organ in the church in Voorburg

Concert by candlelight