The Hague mayor Jan van Zanen unveiled a miniature statue of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza at Madurodam on Saturday 10 October, together with Kyrel Chernenko, the mayor of Madurodam.
The unveiling was part of Madurodam Spinoza Day, a programme that also featured lectures and the launch of the Spinoza Doeboek, an activity book for schoolchildren.
Spinoza, who lived from 1632 to 1677, counts as one of the most important and influential thinkers in Dutch history, and his ideas on equality, free speech and freedom of religion made him a key forerunner of the Enlightenment.
Spinoza’s ties to The Hague
He left Amsterdam in 1661 and spent time in Rijnsburg and Voorburg before settling in The Hague.
His first address in the city was on Stille Veerkade, and he later moved to Paviljoensgracht, where he wrote his best known work, Ethica.
A statue of the philosopher now stands across the street from that house, and his grave is in the city too.
A ban kept him from burial in a Jewish cemetery, so the Protestant church took him in, and a monument in his honour stands in the garden of the Nieuwe Kerk on Spui.
