Kloosterkerk (Monastery Church), Hague

The history of the Monastery Church (Kloosterkerk) dates back to the late 14th century. In 1393, the land where it now stands was granted to the Amsterdam Saint Andrew Monastery, which subsequently sold it to the Dominican Order just a year later. The Dominicans then proceeded to construct their own monastery on the site, complete with a church, in 1397.

In 1420, the church miraculously survived a devastating fire, and by 1540, it had undergone expansion with the addition of a larger aisle and side chapels. However, during the Beeldenstorm, a wave of iconoclasm in 1566, the church was stripped of its Catholic adornments, and only a few friars remained on the premises until 1574. In 1583, most of the monastery was dismantled, but the church endured. It was left abandoned and in a state of decay for 12 years, nearly facing demolition.

Subsequently, the building took on various roles, serving as a shelter for a cavalry company, a cannon foundry, and a storage facility for munitions. In 1617, it was partially restored for religious purposes. Unfortunately, on November 3, 1690, a munitions explosion destroyed everything except for a single wall.

In 1691, King William III of England visited the Monastery Church, and in 1813, it briefly hosted a regiment of Russian Cossacks. Religious services fully resumed in 1914, only to be interrupted again during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II, from May 1940 to 1942.

Between 1952 and 1957, the church underwent extensive renovation, including the removal of a wall separating the nave and the choir. In 1997, King Willem-Alexander confessed in the Monastery Church, and in 2007, Princess Ariane was baptized here. Former Queen Beatrix also occasionally attends services.

In 2002, a memorial plaque was unveiled in honor of Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a physicist and inventor born in Danzig (Gdansk) during the 17th-18th century. He is buried at the Monastery Church.