The Kloosterkerk (or Cloister Church) is a church on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague, Netherlands. The church and its accompanying monastery were first built in 1397. The church is known today as the church where Beatrix of the Netherlands occasionally attended services.
History
Origins of the original monastery and church that occupied this site may be found in the Dominican Order. Reforms undertaken by Raymond of Capua, brought a renewed growth to the order, and it is around this time in 1397 that a monastery and church was first built for the Dominicans in The Hague.
Court of Albrecht of Bavaria
A thriving new center of arts was established in The Hague by the Court of Albrecht of Bavaria (1336–1404) and his second wife Margaret of Cleves (ca. 1375-1412). Some known artistic items to have been produced in this period are an important illuminated manuscript, the Hours of Margaret of Cleves commissioned between 1395-1400, and the visually similar Biblia pauperum. From December 1399 Dirc van Delf (ca. 1365-ca. 1404) was among the court of the Duke Albrecht of Bavaria in The Hague. There he had the function of court chaplain, but he also lectured at German universities, such as Cologne and Erfurt.
Early Architecture
In 1420 a fire raged through the monastery, but serious renovations are not recorded until the church's southern transept was added in the beginning of the 16th century. The church was expanded around 1540 with an enlarged aisle and side chapels. The center barrel vaulted aisle is 20 meters high and 11.5 meters wide. The worship space became a pilgrimage church, where people could visit and pass through, while services were being held in the central aisle or nave. At this time the church was also dedicated to St. Vincent, a Valencian Dominican missionary who was canonized June 3, 1455 by Pope Calixtus III.
Protestant Reformation
It was stripped of Catholic decorations during the beeldenstorm (iconoclasm of 1566). A number of friars lived on for a few more years, but in 1574 the last few left. In 1583 most of the monastery was demolished. The church remained, but having been abandoned for 12 years, the building had deteriorated and some suggested demolition. In 1588 a cavalry company seeking shelter settled in the former church. The following year the nave and choir were made into a cannon foundry for the States of Holland and West Friesland. The choir was used as a foundry and the nave served as a munition store with the two walled off from each other. On November 3, 1690, the ammunition stored in the nave exploded leaving only one wall of the monastery remaining.
Early Protestant Church
A part of the building became a church again in 1617 after Counter-Remonstrants had successfully "squatted" in it. The Protestant Church in the Netherlands had split between the Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants over Arminianism. The Grote Kerk in The Hague was in the hands of the Remonstrant party, led by minister Johannes Wtenbogaert and supported by statesman Johan van Oldenbarneveldt. The Counter-Remonstrants, led by suspended minister Henricus Roseaus, took possession of the Kloosterkerk and commenced their own preaching services there in July 1617. Later that same month, Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange demonstrated his support for the Counter-Remonstrants (and opposition to Van Oldenbarneveldt) by attending one of their services. Van Oldenbarneveldt was arrested in 1618 and executed a year later. The Remonstrants were expelled from their churches but the Kloosterkerk continued in use as a second city church alongside the Grote Kerk. For the centuries to follow the church was used for Dutch Reformed worship with the pulpit standing against the north wall.
In 1620 a mechanical clock was added to the tower, made by Huyck Hopcoper. Throughout the 17th century, the burial of people in the church brought money and numerous hatchments (Dutch:"rouwbord"). Most walls and columns were covered with hatchments, with the graves predominantly in the choir. A lead coffin was found in the choir with the embalmed remains of the foundress of the monastery, Margaret of Cleves.