Torentje

The Torentje (Dutch: Het Torentje [ə ˈtoːrə(ɲ)tɕə]; English: "The Little Tower"), located at the Binnenhof in The Hague next to the Mauritshuis museum, has been the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 1982.

History

The torentje (literally turret) is a small octagonal building at the Hofvijver, which is first mentioned in chronicles in 1354 and probably dates from the first half of the 14th century. At the edge of the Parliament Buildings it was originally a summer gazebo for Counts of Holland. It was connected by a drawbridge with the count's garden. At the site of this garden, later east of the Tower the Mauritshuis (now a museum) was built around 1640 as the residence for John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen.

Location

The building is part of the Binnenhof complex, the seat of the Dutch parliament (eerste kamer and tweede kamer) as well as the ministry of general affairs (housed in het Torentje). East of the Tower is the Mauritshuis and the Grenadiers Gate, that gives access to Parliament Buildings. Directly opposite the Tower are offices of the House of Representatives. The Tower itself is part of the portfolio of the "Rijksgebouwendienst".

Usage

The octagonal building has two small floors. On the ground floor the building sports is a small meeting room, the first floor houses the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands who is also Minister of General Affairs. It was first used for this purpose by Ruud Lubbers when he became Prime Minister in 1982; before that it was used by the Minister of the Interior as the main office.^[1] Since 1982 it has been in continuous use as office of the prime minister and has achieved symbolic status in the Netherlands (the office will be relocated during the large scale renovation of the 800 year old complex).