AA-2026-6CD371
On the image
Someone built an entire nation at one-twenty-fifth scale and called it educational, which is how the Dutch have always described anything spectacular and slightly show-offy. Madurodam's miniature Binnenhof sits here in obedient rows of gabled brick and slate, every chimney and mullioned window reproduced with the seriousness usually reserved for the real seat of government a few miles away.
Down in the courtyard a column of tiny figures marches past a gatehouse no taller than a man's knee, proof that even a scale model of a country needs its own small ceremony to look legitimate. Tourists in the 1960s came to peer down at this and feel, briefly, like benevolent giants presiding over Dutch civic order.
The real Binnenhof, a short tram ride away, was busy running an actual government at the time, with rather less grass trimmed to golf-green precision. Here, though, the grass is perfect, the roofs never leak, and the parliament of the miniature Netherlands has achieved what the full-sized one rarely does: everyone stays exactly in line.
Visually related — by likeness
Miniature Binnenhof at Madurodam, The Hague, 1960s. 1960–1969. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-6CD371. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/miniature-binnenhof-at-madurodam-the-hague-1960s.
@misc{aaAA20266CD371,
title = {Miniature Binnenhof at Madurodam, The Hague, 1960s},
year = {1960–1969},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-6CD371},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/miniature-binnenhof-at-madurodam-the-hague-1960s}
}TY - ART TI - Miniature Binnenhof at Madurodam, The Hague, 1960s PY - 1960–1969 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-6CD371 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/miniature-binnenhof-at-madurodam-the-hague-1960s ER -
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